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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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Photographic 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Tschnical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibiiographiques 


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D 
D 
D 


Coloured  covers/ 
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Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagie 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restauria  st/ou  pelliculie 


□    Cover  title  misbing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


y 


n 


n 


D 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  {i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noirel 

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The  c 
to  thi 


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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normaie  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


r~]    Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 


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Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculies 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolories,  tachet(bi<as  ou  piqu^es 


D 


The! 
possi 
of  th 
fllmh 


Origi 

begii 

the  lj 

sion, 

othai 

first 

sion, 

ori!! 


I      I    Pages  detached/ 


Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inigale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplimentaire 


r~^    Showthrough/ 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I — I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 


□    Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Tho 
shall 
TINl 
whic 

Map 
difffl 
entii 
beg! 
right 
requ 
metl 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


lils 

du 

difier 

jne 

lage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
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g6n6rosit6  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationaie  du  Canada 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduces  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet6  de  rexemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformitd  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
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sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  iHustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  bo 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  film6s  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniftre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film6s  en  commenpant  par  .a 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  ep*— linte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  er         ninant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  ur        ile 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfrche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
fiimis  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  fiimd  A  partir 
de  I'angiG  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m6thode. 


rata 

0 


lelure, 

I  i 


3 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

1  2  3 

4  5  6 


ii 


i 


Wn 


AN  ADDRESS 


DBUVBBKI)   IIF.FOBR 


The  St.  Louis  Mekcantile  Library  Association, 


JANUARY    0th,    1878, 


ri'OM  TUB 


THERMAL  PATHS  TO  THE  POLE, 


d 

-4 
A 


HO 


THE  CCRKENTS  OP  THE  OCEAN,  AND  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE 
LATTER  UrON  THE  CLIMATES  OF  THE  WOULD. 


V 


BY   SILAS    BE:NT. 


'to 


SAINT  LOUIS: 

TUK  K.  P.  STl'DLBY  CO.,   PUINTKB8,  LITIIOGRAl'lIEHS,   ANU  BINDEHf . 

1872. 


J 


a     ^  I  MAPOF  TllK 


^    ^"(MEflrATOKSPRO.IErTlON)  >^^"?%ri^-4^ 
1^'  Showiii«i  tho  piiJH  ipal  W      >       ' 

STTRFAC  E  (  T  HKKXTS 

OrEA>SiVTIIKnMOMETIUr 

~^ -—_  ro 'rm..         —    -    . 

SIliASBE>T 

Expfunadon.'i: 

T7ie  fled-  Coloriiii/  ituiicutrs  llnr/n  ^'afet. 
•■     ^l>'<'        ■■  •  IreKfo/,! 

■■     .InoMS.siimif/ir  ihiic/titii  ,,ff\i,  ... 


150 


120 


Jt.f\iuM,yi.  Cfuast. 


mm 


"m 


ADDTIERS. 


Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  aiul  Gentlemen: 

VVhei.  De  Soto  discoverefl  tJie  Mississippi  river,  let  us  suppose 
he  had  remained  on  and  about  its  borders  for  months  and  years-!,ad 
traversed  its  width-had  sounded  its  depths-had  measured  the  velocity 
of  Its  current-had  recorded  its  tompcrature-had  floated  a  thousand 
u)iles  to  the  southward  on  Its  turbid  ),osom,  and  had  still  found,  that 
wlulst  Its  apparent  volume  conlinue.l  the  same  and  its  temperature 
changed  but  slightly,  its  current  became  somewhat  less  rapid,  but  its 
course  was  still  onward,  towards  the  south,  through  the  alluvial  soil 
and  interminable  forests  that  formed  its  banks.  Suppose  now-just 
when  his  mind  was  absorbed  in  speculations  as  to  the  mission  in  the 
earth  s  economy  this  great  '<  father  of  waters  "  was  intended  to  fultiU, 
whither  It  went  and  where  it  ended-he  should  have  been  told  that 
only  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  beyond,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  spread  its 
broad  basin  directly  across  its  path,  and  I  think  vou  will  aoree  with 
me,  that  it  would  have  required  no  great  etlbrt  of  genius  nor  stretch 
of  imagination  to  conclude  that  this  was  the  reservoir  into  which  the 
river  poured  its  waters. 

Now  this  is  but  a  tair  illustration  of  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
origin  ot  the  theory  of  the  "  Thermometric  Gateways  to  the  Pole  and 
Sur  ace  Currents  of  the  Ocean  "  that  I  had  the  honor  of  first  submitting 
to  this  Society  in  the  winter  of  18(i«-9.  " 


JUE    (UTLF    STREAM, 

'"/.''!'??'■''"  ^''^^'^^ter,  has  been  known  for  a  centurv  or  more   and 
untd  180..  It  was  supposed  to  be  the  only  great  -rive.-  in  the  oc^an" 
that  existed  on  the  globe.    But  about  that  time  it  was  my  good  fortune 
ni  the  course  of  my  official  <luties,  to  discover  and  trace  out  anotlLi- 

the  G;.f  St!"  "  '",  f  ^•;\1^-'^-'  ^^-  -en  grander  proportions  tha; 
the  Gulf  Stream,  and  to  deduce  a  system  of  inter-oceanic  circulation 
between  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the  Atlantic  and  Pacificf.  which  is  .lecZ 
saiy  to  complete  and  harmonize  the  separate  systems  found  to  exit 
in  these  two  latter  oceans,  and  which  were  then,  for  the  first  thne 
discovered  to  be  so  completely  alike.  ' 


TIIK   UKAUTIKri-   SIMl'LICITY 

of  the  law  developed  by  this  theory  seems  to  have  so  commended 
itself  to  the  judgment  of  others,  that,  without  an  exception  so  far  as  1 
am  aware,  tlie  press  everywhere  iiccopted  it,  and  but  fow'persons  have 
attempted  to  controvert  the  hypothtjses. 

In  the  treatment  of  my  subject  this  evening,  I  shall  endeavor  to  bo 
as  brief  as  possible  consistent  with 

AN   INTKLI-KiKNT    KlOl'KKSENTA TION 

to  your  minds  of  the  various  points  that  have  necessarily  to  be  con- 
sidered, before  a  just  conclusion  ciiii  bo  drawn  as  to  the  results  and 
of  tlu-ir  importance.  To  do  this  I  have  divided  the  address  into  three 
parts,  vi/: 

1.  Explanations  of  the  hypotheses  of  oceanic  circulation  and  of  the 
thermal  gateways  to  the  pole,  as  jriven  to  this  Society  on  former  occa- 
sions. 

2.  Short  extracts  from  some  of  the  reviews  of  those  theories  and 
other  discussions  that  their  publication  has  given  rise  to;  and 

3.  A  sketch  of  the  explorations  and  discoveries  made  in  tlie  Arctic 
Seas  since  1808. 

I  will  begin  by  stating  to  you  that  there  is 


A   CIRCULA'irON    IN   THE   OCKAN 

which  is  governed  bv  laws  as  lixed  and  benelicent  as  are  those  of  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  and  which  are  as  interesting  to  the 
student  of  nature,  and  perhaps  as  important— for  aught  we  know— to 
the  well-being  of  the  l.uman  raco,  as  the  latter  have  proven  to  be. 

Place  under  the  mi(;roscope  the  web  of  a  frog's  foot,  and  hither  and 
thither  we  shall  see  varied  currents  of  blood,  crossing  and  recrossing 
each  other,  upparentlv  without  ordtM-  and  without  law.  Examine  the 
capillary  vessels  of  the  human  bodv,  and  there,  in  the  most  tortuous 
ramifications,  passes  and  repasses  the  life-giving  tinid  from  one  set  of 
vessels  to  the  other,  to  all  appearance  without  any  governing  cause. 

Look  into  the  bosom  of  the  mighty  deep,  either  when  the  storms 
of  heaven  are  lashing  the  white-topped  waves,  or  when  the  *^erene  sky 
breathes  a  beautiful  calm  over  the  iace  of  the  waters,  and  here,  seem- 
incrlv  with  the  utmost  incongruity,  are  found  currents  and  counter- 
ciU-n-nts,  meeting  each  other  at  all  variety  of  angles,  above,  below, 
near  and  far,  over  the  whole  surface  and  depths  of  the  waters. 


Fui-tlier  scientific  invostigation,  however,  teaches  lis  that  as,  in  the 
liuman  system,  o«!e  variety  of  vessels  pa«s  from  one  side  of  the  licart, 
carrying'  tiio  pure  blood  to  every  portion  of  the  body,  timt  another  sot 
of  tubes  of  wonderful  conformation  (%ury  back  the  impure  blood  to  the 
heart,  where,  in  obodion(;o  to  the  inexplicahle  laws  of  nature,  it  is  sent 
into  the  iunors,  there  to  be  purilled,  and  again  to  go  through  tlie  body 
with  its  life-giving  ami  hnalthftil  influence.  And,  moreover,  as  this 
purifying  process  is  being  acomplished,  animal  heat  is  generated.  So 
it  is  with  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  which  it  will  bo  my  endeavor 
briefly  as  possible  to  exitlain. 

There  is 

AN   K(iUIMnmi'.M    IN    AM,   NATl'KK. 

There  is  an  unseen  power,  that,  while  it  ntterly  forbids  annihilation 
of  matter,  constantly  so  alters  the  forms,  appearances  and  uses  of  the 
molecules,  that  loss  in  one  portion  of  the  universe  is  counterbalanced 
by  again  in  another;  and  thus,  by  that  inscrutable  power  of  adaptation, 
the  earth  revolves  within  its  orbit  and  the  stars  sing  together  in  har- 
mony, while  the  dew  upon  the  blossom— the  rain— the  ice— the  snow— 
the  heat  and  cold— all  conspire  to  perfect  those  laws  of  compensation 
and  adaptation,  thus  indicating  to  the  student  of  johysical  science  that 
perfect  harmony,  law,  and  order  in  nature,  which,  to  the  uninitiated, 
are  obscure,  incongruous,  and  undefiiunl. 

The  sea,  the  atmosphere,  and  the  sun  are  to  the  earth,  what  the  lungs, 
V  >f.-^-r/    te  behobl,  and  the  heart  are  to  the  animal  economy. 

The  process  of  evaporation  is  provided  by  an  all-wise  Providence 
to  purify,  renovate,  and  vivify  the  surface  of  the  globe;  and  in  this 
great  an  ^  ;  ontinually  reciurring  action  may  be  seen  one  of  the  causes  of 
those  currents  which  are  found  in  the  ocean. 

Let  mo  here  quote  to  you  a  single  passage  from  one  of  tho  most 
beautifully  written  works  upon  the  subjects  of  which  we  are  now 
treating.  I  allude  to  that  on  "Tiie  Physical  Groography  of  the  Sea,"  by 
Commodore  M.  F.  Maurv.     He  savs: 


WL 


"the  mean  annltal  fall  ok  uain 

on  the  entire  smtace  of  the  earth  is  estimated  at  about  five  feet.  To 
evaporate  water  enough  annually  from  the  ocean  to  over  the  earth,  on 
the  averuuc.  five  leet  deep  with  rain,  to  transport  it  from  one  zone  to 
anothei'.  and  to  piecipitate  it  in  the  right  places  at  suitable  times  and 
in  the  proportion  due,  is  one  of  the  offices  of  the  grand  atmospheric 
machine.  This  water,  bear  in  mind,  is  evaporated  principally  from  the 
Torrid  Zone. 

"Supposing  it  all  to  come  thence,  we  shall  have  encircling  the  earth 
a  belt  of  ocean  three  thousand  miles  in  breadth,  from  whicirthis  atmo- 


6 

sphere  evapomtca  a  layer  of  water  aiiiinftUy,  sixteen  I'cet  In  depth; 
aiul  to  hoist  up  as  hi^h  as  the  cloiuls,  and  lower  down  BKain,  all  the 
water  in  a  lake  sixteen  feet  deep,  three  thousand  miles  broad,  and 
twenty-four  thousand  miles  lonff,  is  tlio  yearly  business  of  this  invisible 
machinery." 

TIIK    KKl-KCT. 

Now,  I  aslc  yon,  understanding'  as  we  do  the  constant  effort  of  nature 
to  restore  cquilibriuni,  and  the  laws  of  a(lai)luli.)n,  what  must  he  the 
eflfoct  upon  the  ocean  of  the  removal  of  tiiis  immense  mass  of  water  of 
twentv-four  thousand  miles  in  len<?th,  tiireo  thousand  miles  in  width, 
and  sixteen  feet  in  doptli?  Certainly  an  ciidoavor  on  the  part  of  the 
water  to  occupv  this  onormous  space:  ami  to  do  this  ull  the  watcM-s 
north  and  south  of  this  space,  or  /one,  are  at  once  set  in  motion  to 
restore  the  e<iuilibrium;  and  were  there  no  continents  and  islands,  or 
inequalities  in  the  bod  of  the  oceans,  this  How  would  be  uniform  round 
the  whole  earth;  but  by  these  local  obstructions  they  are  divided 
into  many  streams,  and  diverted  into  numerous  clianiiel-ways,  tln-ough 
which  they  pour  their  volumes  to  foim 

TIIK   C.UEAT   K(;i'ATOUI.\L   CUKUKNTS 

of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.  -  Ife^ard  it  as  proved,"  wrote  Columbus 
in  the  'liary  of  his  tliird  voyaj^o  to  tlie  New  World,  wlien  seel<ing  to 
enter  the  tropics  near  the  meridian  of  Tencrifle,  "that  the  waters  of 
the  sea  move  from  east  to  west,  as  do  the  lieavens;  that  is  to  say,  lilvo 
tlie  apparenl  motion  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars." 
However  we  may  explain 


IHK    Wl-.sriCKLV    KLOW 

of  tlie  vast  waterv  masses  in  tlie  equatorial  seas,  tlic  fact  remains  as 
one  of  the  best  attested  and  most  un(|uestioned  of  oceanic  phenomena. 
Over  tlie  torrid  and  liquid  waters,  l)oth  of  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic, 
sweeps  this  mi<-htv  and  majestic  stream,  steady  and  perennial,  and  as 
unfailing  as  the  stars  in  their  courses.     In  the  Pacific,  notwithstanding 
it  must  find  its  impeded  way  through  the  meshes  of  the  Polynesian 
Archipelagoes,  it  yields  to  no  resistance,  but  presses  on  to  tlie  palmy 
Philippine's  and  Formosa,  whence  it  passes  its  Hoods,  in  part  to  the 
north,  along  the  coasts  of  Ja[)an,  and  in  part  through  the  China,  Cele- 
bes, and  Java  seas,  into  and  through  the  basin  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Some  have  supposed  that,  originally,  tliese  channel-ways  to  the  south 
and  west  were  made  by  the  westwardly  washings  of  the  water  rending 
Anstralia  from  the  continent  of  Asia. 
The  width  of  tlie  equatorial  current  of  tlie  Pacific  exceeds  3,000  miles. 


IIIB    ATl.ANTir   (illKKNT. 

The  cr|uatoi-iiil  current  of  tlie  Atlantic  lias  its  genesis  on  tiio  west 
coast  of  Africa,  wlioro  it  is  formed  by  llie  great  ocean  flow  from  I  lie 
Antarctic  regions  on  tlio  south  and  tlic  recurvation  of  the  Gulf  Stream 
on  the  north.  It  sets  out  in  its  movement  to  the  west  with  no  obstacles 
in  its  way ;  but  when  it  reaclios  the  coast  of  South  America,  only  a 
small  por'ion  of  it  is  deflected  to  the  south-west  by  Capo  St.  Uoque, 
the  greater  mass  being  crowded  to  the  northward  and  westward  until 
reaching  the  West  Indies,  wlien  it  passes  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  IJut  you  can  readily  perceive,  by  looking  at  this  map, 
that  this  northward  pressure  must  force  much  more  than  half  of  the 
whole  volume  of  the  equatorial  current  to  the  north  of  San  Domingo 
and  Cuba. 

Some  eighteen  months  ago.  Professor  Thompson  B.  Maury,  in  a  very 
intcres^ting  and  able  article,  advanced  the  hypothesis  that  that  portion 
of  the  equatorial  current  which  here  passes  to  the  northward  of  the 
Greater  Antilles,  and  which  must  be  a  hundred  fold  greater  than  that 
which  returns  to  the  east  from  tiio  Gulf  of  Mexico  through  the  Bcniina 
Straits,  forms  the  great  mass  or  body  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  that  that 
which  issues  from  liemina  is  but  a  small  portion  of  the  tropical  waters 
that  pass  Ciipo  Ilatteras  on  its  flow  to  the  northward. 

Notwithstanding  these  obstacle.*,  however,  enough  water  is  forced 
through  the  passages  between  the  Lesser  Antilles  to  form  a  strong 
current  to  the  west  through  the  Yucatan  channel,  and  which  was  suffl- 
cicnlly  great  to  lead  Sir  John  Ilorschel  to  'assort,  that  tlio  oxcitvation 
of  the  (iulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean  Sea  is  an  evident  eft'ect  of  the 
continued  and  powerful  action  of  the  set  of  the  great  South  Atlantic 
current,  tmd  irhirh,  iiiiletis  counteracted  by  other  causes,  must,  sooner 
or  later,  cut  through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien."  This  smaller  Caribbean 
(current,  making  the  circuit  of  the  Mexican  basin,  and  gathering  heat 
from  a  tropical  sun,  unrelieved  by  the  cooling  trade  winds — which  are 
broken  by  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  tiulf— is  compressed  into  the 
narrow  passage  between  Florida  and  Cuba,  and  on  emergiiig  from 
which,  with  concentrated  velocity,  it  is  met  obliquely  by  the  northern 
portion  of  the  equatorial  current  before  spoken  of,  nnd  turned  shorply 
to  the  north,  to  become  a  part — instead  of  forming  the  whole — of  what 
is  known  as  the  Gulf  Stream. 

This  is  the  beginning  of  that  marvelous  flow  of  tropical  Avaters, 
which  for  more  than  a  centurv  has  been,  and  is  still,  such 


A   WONUKR  TO    :M.\N. 


Ansted  describes  it  as  "a  great  and  wide  stream  of  water,  larger 
than  all  the  rivers  of  the  world  together,  running  in  a  dcflnite  channel, 
through  colder  water  of  a  different  coloi-,  so  that,  when  a  ship  enters 


8 

tbe  8troam  li.  smooth  water,  one  may  see  the  bows  dashing  Uio  ppiay 
from  the  wann  and  dark  blue  wais-rs  she  is  entering,  while  the  stern  is 
within  tho  pale  green  and  cold  waters  of  the  banks  of  Newfoundland." 
"Clear  as  this  description  is,''  says  Prof.  Maury,  "it  gives  us  but  a 
poor  conception  of  the  reality.  The  Gulf  Stream,  indeed,  beggars  all 
efforts  at  portroyal.  To  see  it  rolling  in  grandeur  is  not  enough  to 
enable  (he  b.'ioi'de.  to  understand  its  wonder  or  conceive  its  power. 
The  mind  can  take  these  in  only  w'^en  it  can  weigh  and  meaimre  those 
facts  and  forces  which  are  concealed  below  the  surfivce,  and  over  which 
even  the  oldest  seaman  may  sail  all-unconscious  and  unconcerned." 
Our  knowledge  of  the  sea,  even  in  the  limited  area  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, is  by  no  means  perfect  or  exact.  Yet,  after  all,  w^e  are  not 
shut  up  to  skepticism  or  imagination. 

THK   NICKLY    CHARTED   BKSUl.TS 

of  the  arduous  labors  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  in  the  thermal 
and  deep  xr.v.  suivoys  of  the  North  Atlantic,  have  long  since  been  pub- 
lished. These  results,  like  seed  long  sown,  are  now  beginning,  under 
the  hands  of  able  workmen,  io  bring  forth  fruits. 

Leaving  the  tropics  with  a  temperature  of  88°,  the  Gulf  Stream  loses 
but  2°  in  every  three  hundred  miles;  and  Admiral  Milne,  of  the  British 
navy,  reports  "that  when  he  ran  into  it  off  Halifax,  in  the  man-of-w^vr 
Nile,  the  bow  of  his  ship  plunged  luto  water  of  70°,  whilst  at  her  stern 
the  thermometer  showed  40°. 

Mati)ematical  calculations  shuw  that  ihe  heat  actually  set  free  in  a 
winter's  di.y  bv  the  Gulf  Stream  is  '-enough  to  warm  up  the  whole 
column  of"  atmosphere"  resting  on  France  and  the  British  Islands 
from  the  freezing  point  to  summer  heat;  and.  as  Commodore  Maury 
say.,  "is  sufficient,  if  utilized,  to  keep  in  constant  flow  a  slrea.n  of 
molten  iron  as  large  in  volume  as  that  of  tho  Mississippi  river';  and 
"that  the  latent  heat,  set  free  by  precipitation,  over  England,  in  one 
day,  when  the  wind  is  ".-om  the  westward,  is  o(pial  to  that  created  by 
the  combustion  of  all  the  coal  consumed  in  the  island  tiiroughout  a 
whole  year. 

rUK   TIIKUMAL   EKKKCT. 

Observations  of  the  Scottish  Meteorological  Society  show  that  the 
winter  temperature  of  the  Shetland  Islands  is  raised  ;36°,  and  that  of 
London  2C°,  by  the  influence  of  the  Gulf  Stream  upon  their  climates, 
and  that  the  Norvvesrian  coast  is  sliU  more  greatly  atlccted  by  its 
cont  ^ct.  The  iso-hinienais,  or  liiu^s  of  equal  winter  temperature,  are 
curs  ed  from  thtir  normal  position  sixteen  hundred  miles  northwardly, 
over  the  legions  covered  by  (he  Gulf  S.ream.  "It  clolhes  Ireland 
with  its  robe  of  omerald,"'  whilst  the  harbors  of  northern  Norway,  lu 
lafitude  72°,  are  kepi  open  throughout  the  year  by  its  genial  warmth. 


9 


rtOUTIIWEST   niRECTIOS. 


By  the  earth's  rotation  on  its  axis,  objects  on  its  surface  between  the 
tropics  are  carried  from  west  to  east  at  tlie  rale  of  a  thousand  miles  an 
lionr,  whilst,  as  we  advance  towards  flie  poles,  this  rate  decreases  with 
tlic  decrease  in  the  circumference  of  the  jiarallels  of  latitude,  so  that 
when  wo  arrive  at  points  where  the  circuniforrnce  is  only  twelve  thou- 
sand miles,  instead  of  twenty-four  thousand  as  it  is  at  the  equator, 
thio  vclociiy  of  rotation  is  but  five  hundred  miles  an  hour,  and  so  on, 
decreasing  until  reaching  the  jwle. 

Now,  an  object  set  in  motion  towar.s  the  equator,  from  the  polar 
regions, — where  the  velocity  of  the  rotation  is  small, — will  constantly 
be  arriving  at  points  on  the  earth's  surface  where  the  velocity  is  greater, 
and,  not  at  once  acquiring  this  greater  velocity,  its  direction  will  tend 
obliquely  to  the  westward.  Hence  we  find  those  streams  or  currents 
wiiicli  ilow  from  the  pole  towards  the  e<iuator,  always  taking  a  south- 
wcstwardly  direction,  whenever  the  contiiiens  and  islands  will  permit. 

These  streams  from  the  northern  and  soutii;M'n  heniisjiheres,  meeting' 
at  the  e(juator,  form  and  give  diiection  to  the  eipiatorial  currents,  the 
waters  of  which  are  thrown  to  the  westward;  but,  interrupted  by  the 
continents  which  lie  across  their  paths,  and  changed  in  their  specific 
gravity  by  tiie  expansive  heat  of  the  sun,  they  throw  otf  hot  streams  to 
the  north  and  south,  lik;.'  blood  from  the  heart  in  the  animal  system,  to 
carry  th(  ir  life-giving  warmlli  and  nourishment  along  their  paths  to 
the  earth's  extremities. 


Fivi; 


'dUl.K    STUKAMS. 


Of  these  streams,  there  are  two  in  the  northern  Hemisphere,  and 
piobably  three  in  the  southern.  It  is  only  to  the  fornn-r,  however,  that 
we  have  specially  to  call  your  attention  on  thi-  occasion,  and  these  are 
known  as  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  Atlantic  and  Kur-Siwo  of  the  Pacific. 
Their  striking  resemblance,  as  traced  upon  the  chart,  in  size,  form, 
and  direction,  is  apparent  to  the  eye.  The  Gulf  Stream  was  delineated 
from  observations  made  by  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  and  the 
Kur-Slvvo  from  observations  made  upon  it  by  the  Japan  expedition 
under  Com.  M.  C.  Perry. 

The  analogy  between  these  streams  is  as  complete  as  it  is  striking. 
By  looking  at  this  chart,  on  which  they  are  traced,  you  will  see  that 
they  bo'h  spring  from  the  northern  edge  of  the  equatorial  currents  in 
latilndf!  22°  N.;  that  they  both,  at  first,  start  directly  north,  and  then 
curve  gradually  to  the  eastward;  that  neitlier  of  them  (except  the  Gulf 
Stream  at  its  origin)  touch  the  eastern  shores  of  America  or  Asia,  but 
that,  after  sweeping  obliquely  across  the  vast  oceans  in  which  they  lie, 
they  bathe  the  western  shores  of  those  continents;  that  when  striking 
these  continents  they  are  both  split  into  two  unequal  parts;  that  the 


10 

larger  portions  of  ciuh,  impinging  upon  the  Iftnd,  are  recurved  to  the 
southward,  and  tinally  fall  again  into  the  currents  of  the  equator;  that 
the  smallest  portion  of  both,  however,  continue  their  courses  to  the 
northeast  into  the  Arctic  Ocean — that  of  the  Gulf  Stream  by  the  way 
of  Spitzbergen,  and  that  of  the  Kuro-Siwo  by  the  way, of  Behring's 
Straits;  that  they  both  have  cold  counter  currents  intervening  between 
them  and  the  continents  near  which  they  rise,  and  which  rnn  in  directly 
opposite  directions  to  their  own  courses,  and  with  e(]ual  rapidity;  that 
they  boti)  have  the  same  in'gh  mean-temperature  of  eighty-six  degrees, 
preserving  in  the  dead  of  winter  tlie  heat^of  summer;  that  they  are  both 
cushioned  in  beds  of  cool  water,  which,  from  want  of  affinity,  robs 
them  of  Jione  of  their  warmth;  that  this  warmth,  after  having  been 
carried  for  tliousands  of  miles  through  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  is  (the 
moment  these  streams  touch  the  land)  thrown  out  with  such  freedom 
and  dirt'used  so  fixr,  by  the  conductive  power  of  the  earth,  as  to  change 
the  climates  of  nearly  half  of  both  continents;  and  that  they  both,  in 
their  never-ceasing  and  unchanging  bcneticence,  are  tit  symbols  of  the 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  Ilim  who  "created  the  heavens,"  "formed 
the  earth  and  made  it,"'  and  ''created  it  not  in  vain,"  but  who  "formed 
it  to  be  inhabited." 

It  is  a  hydro-dynamical  law,  that  currents  of  water  in  the  ocean 
retain  their  peculiarities,  and  will  not  mix  freely  with  waters  of  differ- 
ent density,  temperature,  and  saltness. 

To  those  whose  pursuits  in  life  have  not  rendered  them  familiar  with 
nautical  matters,  it  may  be  well  to  explain  certain  technicalities  which 
are  necessary  to  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the  subject. 

First,  I  must  explain  what  is  understood  by  the 

"  NOUTinVKST    I'ASSACK," 


as  contradistinguished  from  the  "  Passage  to  the  Pole." 

Many  European  nations,  in  early  times,  accepting  the  theory  of  the 
rotundity  of  the  earth,  and  seeking  for  a  shorter  route  to  India  than 
that  by  the  way  of  the  Ca[)e  of  Good  Hope,  endeavored  to  sail  thence 
by  directing  their  course  westward,  across  the  Atlantic.  Christopher 
Columbus  entertained  this  idea,  and,  even  after  the  success  of  his 
voyages,  believed  that  he  had  accomplished  the  desired  result,  and 
died  supposing  that  he  had  reached  the  islands  lying  off  the  east  coast 
of  Asia.  lieiice,  the  name  India  Islands  was  given  to  the  group  lying 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  But,  after  a  time,  when  it  was 
discovered  that  a  vast  continent  and  mighty  ocean  lay  between  these 
India  Isles  and  the  shores  of  Asia,  the  term  "  AVest  Indies "  was 
applied  to  them,  in  contradistinction  to  the  "  East  India  Islands," 
found  to  the  southward  of  the  eastern  hemisphere.  Thus,  it  will 
appear,  that  the  continent  of  America,  blocked  up  the  western  route 


■H 


'm'Xii, 


11 

to  India;  that  the  ronte  by  Cape  Horn,  besides  being  more  distant, 
was  even  more  dangerous,  than  that  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
the  idea  became  prevalent,  that  there  might  exist  and  be  practicable 
for  commerce,  a  passage  round  the  northern  extremity  of  America; 
and  this  passage,  lying  in  a  northtvest  direction  from  Europe,  gave  rise 
to  the  expression  of  "  Nortliwest  Passage." 

The  tirst  attempt  that  was  ever  made  to  discover  or  effect  this  pas- 
sage, was  undertaken  by  John  Cortereal,  a  Portuguese,  in  the  year 
156:3.  ire  failed;  and  so  has  all  the  marvelous  intelligence,  enterprise, 
and  energy,  that  have  been  expended  in  that  direction,  by  every  mari- 
time nation  of  the  ivorld,  from  that  time  to  this. 

SIU   JOHN    KHANKLIN'S    KXI'EDITION. 

The  early  expeditions,  being  but  poorly  provided,  and  having  no 
succor  nor  supplies  to  fall  back  upon— when  so  unfortunate  as  to  bo 
caught  in  the  ice  for  the  winter— were  usually  completely  destroyed 
by  the  scurvy,  starvation,  and  intense  cold  ;  and  that  those  of  tlie  past 
century  have  not  shared  the  same  fate,  is,  in  a  great  measure,  to  be 
attributed  to  the  timely  assistance  rendered  them  by  other  expeditious, 
whenever  thoy  have  met  with  disasters. 

Of  this,  we  want  no  more  fearful  illustration  than  that  afforded  by 
the  terrible  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  party. 

This  expedition  sailed  from  England  in  1815.  The  vessels— Erebus 
and  Terror— were  probably  lost  in  18KJ,  and  notwithstanding  the 
millions  of  money  that  have  been  i^pent  in  expeditions  of  relief,  and  a 
heroism  of  self-sacritieing  energy  displayed  by  those  composing  the 
personnel  of  those  expeditions  wliicli  the  history  of  the  world  'scarcely 
aftbrds  a  iiarallel,  yet  the  American  explorer.  Hall,  who  recently 
returned  from  a  five  years'  sojourn  among  the  Esquimaux,  brought 
reliable  intelligence  that  Captain  Crozier,  Franklin's  second  in  com- 
mand, Avith  the  last  survivor*  of  that  expedition,  died  only  some  seven 
or  eight  years  ago  I  Can  the  mind  picture  a  more  frightful  fate  than 
the  imprisonment  of  these  people  for  twenty  years,  in  such  a  region  of 
frozen  desolation  as  must  have  been  the  scene  of  their  wp.nderings? 

OTHER   EFl<'OKTS. 

In  addition  to  the  many  expeditions  made  in  this  direction,  to  the 
west  of  Greenland,  there  have  been  others,  equally  fruitless,  so  far  as 
the  main  object  of  the  enterprise  was  concerned,  that  have  been  sent 
to  the  northeast  from  the  Atlantic,  to  find  a  route  round  the  north  of 
Europe  and  Asia  to  India;  and  still  others,  though  comparatively  few, 
that  have  penetrated  Behring's  Straits,  with  the  special  purpose  of 
passing  either  to  the  east  or  west,  as  opportunity  might  offer,  from  the 
Pacific  to  the  Atlantic.    Of  these,  Cook,  Clerke,  and  Beechy  may  be 


««*iii«««. 


12 

named.  Tlio  roiiiior  niiiclKMl  liililudo  70",  in  loiij^iliido  KIT,  lO'  west, 
and  IJoochy  lo  Vn\)v  JJiirrow.  ('apt.  McC'liir",  of  (lie  Mritisli  navy, 
panned  tliOHO  Straits  in  IHaO  to  ('oiiixirale  with  Sir  Edward  Hclclier,  wl»o 
wont  by  Davis  Straits,  in  searcli  ol"  Sir  .loliii  Frani<lin.  (Japt.  McOlure, 
by  (^liiififiiifj  to  tlio  shore,  wliorc  a  rrin<<e  ot  water  is  kept  open  in 
HUinnuM'  by  tlie  drainiiire  troni  river-!  and  llie  warnitii  of  tlic  land, 
siieeeeded  in  reaeliinj^  lon<;itu(le  177°  west,  wlicre  his  ship  was  frozen 
in,  and  which  bo  abandoned  in  IHoJ,  and,  with  his  crow,  traveled  one 
hundred  and  seventy  miU-s  ove.r  tlu;  \fv,,  to  join  the  KesoUite,  wbicih 
was  also  tro/en  in  at  Dealy  Island,  and  which,  in  turn,  was  abandoned; 
and  afterwards,  in  September,  IS"),"),  was  fonml  by  an  American  whaler, 
in  I?nllbi's  15 1> ,  still  securely  wed^jed  in  a  liiMd  ot  ice,  c((\ci'in<»' an  area 
of  hundreds  of  scpnire  miles,  by  whiiib  she  had  been  safely  carried 
twelve  bundre«l  miles  to  the  southward  and  eastward  from  the  point 
where  she  had  been  abandoned. 

Tin;  (iAlJ.ANT   .M'ci.ruK 

is  Justly  entitled  to  (lie  distin<;uishcd  credit  of  having  been  the  tlrst  to 
]);vss  from  ocean  to  ocean  round  the  contujent;  vet  be  cannot  be  said 
(o  have  circinn»(ti'i<j<i(c<l  the  north  end  of  the  c(>iitinent,  since  a  part  of 
the  passage  was  made  on  foot  over  the  ice. 

TOWAUDS  Tin;  I'oi.i;. 

Henry  Hudson  reached  .sl°  oi)^  northwest  of  Spii/.bergeii  in  l(i07. 
riiipps  <S(»"  ;)7'  N.,  in  the  same  locality-,  in  1771$.  Biichaiiaii  and  Frank- 
lin 8(1°  34'  N.,  near  Spit/bergen,  in  181.S,  and  then,  sailing  westward 
along  the  ice  barrier,  lost  ground  as  tliey  receded  from  the  path  of 
(ho  (Julf  Stream.  Parry,  in  1827,  after  reaching  the  ice  north  of  Spitz- 
bergeu,  took  to  his  boats  mounted  011  sledges,  and,  after  one  of  the 
most  lat)orions  journeys  on  record,  in  which  bo  traveled  otiS  miles,  yet 
made  ouIn  seventy-two  miles  011  his  course  to  the  north,  when  ho  came 
to  rotten  ice,  and  had  to  abandon  the  attemjjt.  liaving  reached  latitude 

Admiral  \Vrangel,  of  the  Russian  navy,  in  182;$,  mulj  an  attempt 
also  to  reach  the  pole,  by  traveling  north  from  Siberia,  over  the  ice  in 
sledges;  but  on  ivac^hiiig  latitude  7(t°  ol'  N.,  longitude  176°  27'  VV., 
was  stojiped  by  rotten  ice.  beyond  which  lay  an  open  sea,  boundless  to 
the  vision  toward  the  North  Pole. 

Dr.  Kane's  vessel  being  frozen  in  at  the  entrance  of  Smith's  Sound, 
in  18;")4,  he  sent  an  expedition  ')ver  the  ice,  to  the  north,  which,  after 
traveling  some  2l»0  miles,  reached  the  open  sea  in  latitude  81°  8i>'  N. 
Dr.  Hayes  followed  in  tlio  same  locality,  in  18lil,  found  the  same  open 
sea,  and  ascending  a  few  miles  further  north  than  Morton  had  done, 
saw  laud  extending  north  for  a  degree  or  so  beyond.  Parry's  latitude 
stands  the  highest  as  an  authentic  recind. 


li: 


■jr*»ft., 


18 


TUKKK   (JKNTIKIKS   Of   FAII.URK. 

For  three  huiidrod  ycnrp,  explorers  of  every  description,  whetiier 
iiatioiiiil  or  individual,  have  heen,  and  are  still,  in  my  opinion,  trying 
every  avenue  but  the  right  ones,  to  reach  the  Pole  and  circumnavigate 
the  northern  extremities  of  the  continents.  The  failures  and  disasters 
of  these  expeditions  are  familiar  to  you  all,  as  they  are  to  every  one 
who  has  read  their  narratives,  liut,  like  most  others,  I  had  never  given 
the  subject  any  special  attention  or  study,  until  it  so  happened  that  the 
materials  were  placed  in  my  hands  which  led  to  the  delirieation  of  the 
ICuro-8iwo,  and 

THE    DISCOVERY 

that  it  l'()rme(l  a  part  of  a  great  system  of  currents  in  the  Pacific, 
idenlical  in  all  its  essential  features  with  that  of  the  equatorial  current, 
Uulf  Stream,  and  counter-current  in  the  Atlantic. 

To  inform  you  how  this  occurred,  I  may  state  that  after  the  close  of 
the  Mexican  war,  in  1848,  the  sloop  of  war  Preble,  to  which  I  was 
attached,  was  sent  on  special  service  from  California  to  China.  She 
followed  the  e<|uatorial  current,  alter  leaving  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
which  carried  us  from  thirty  to  eighty  miles  beyond  our  reckoning, 
every  day,  by  its  westward  flow.  In  the  winter  of  1848-1),  the  Preble 
was  sent  to  Naga-saki,  in  Japan,  to  rescue  a  number  of  American  ship- 
wrecked seamen,  imprisoned  there  by  the  Japanes*;,  The  monsoon  was 
blowing  at  its  heij^hr,  directly  against  us,  iVom  (he  iiorthea>t.  After  a 
severe  struggle,  of  some  eight  or  ten  days,  we  donbkd  the  south  end 
of  Formosa,  having  crossed  the  strong  cuirent  from  the  north,  which 
runs  down  between  that  island  and  the  coast  of  China,  and  at  once  fell 
into  the  current,  which,  it  Avas  well  known,  flowed  north  along  the  east 
side  of  Formosa.  It  was  also  equally  well  known,  that  only  a  short 
distance  to  the  south  of  the  south  end  of  this  island,  the  great  eipiatoriiil 
current  poured  its  volume,  directly  to  the  west,  into  the  China  Sea. 
Each  of  these  currents  was  running  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  miles  an 
hour;  but  their  limits  ov  extent— except  of  the  latter  — was  not  at  all 
known,  and  just  as  we  weie  in  the  critical  juncture  of  these  currents, 
we  were  overtaken  by  a  severe  storm,  which,  with  its  blinding  rain 
and  spi)on-drilt,  obscured  everything  beyond  the  distance  of  a  few 
hundred  feet,  and  continued  tor  three  days  without  intermission.  That 
region  of  the  sea  was  impcrf(H;tly  charted,  and  sprinkled  with  dsingerous 
islands  and  (!oral  reefs,  upon  which  many  staunch  ships  were  almost 
anmnilly  wrecked.  As  navigator  of  the  vessel,  the  responsibilities  and 
anxieties  of  the  occasion  bore  heavily  upon  my  mind.  At  the  close  of 
the  gale,  in  which — had  there  been  ro  current — we  should  have  drifted, 
or  been  driven,  about  a  hundred  mi'.  -  >  the  southwest;  and  if  still  iu 
the  strong  southerly  current  down  the  Formosa  channel,  near  five 
hundred  miles  in  the  same  direction ;  you  may  imagine 


14 


OUR   .SUKPRISE, 

on  the  breaking  of  the  j;ale,  to  find  that  the  ship  had  been  carried 
nearly  a  hundred  miles  to  the  north,  directly  against  the  wind. 

Running  over  to  the  Loo  Choo  Islands,  we  passed  out  of  this  north- 
erly current,  and  in  going  thence  to  Japan  again  crossed  it,  but  found 
it  inclining  to  the  east  at  that  point.  Accomplishing  the  object  of  our 
mission,  we  returned  from  Naga-saki  by  the  way  of  Shanghai,  and 
other  ports  on  the  east  coast  of  China,  finding  the  southerly  current 
down  the  Formosa  channel  still  running  with  the  same  velocity. 

CONI'IKMATION. 

The  I'reblc,  returning  to  California  a  short  time  after  this,  pursued 
the  same  route,  and  found  the  same  currents  about. the  south  end  of 
Formosa.  We  carried  the  one  llowing  nortiiwardly,  until  reaching 
latitude  35°,  longitude  145°  E.,  when  we  had  to  leave  it,  on  account  of 
a  severe  epidemic  that  had  broken  out  among  the  crew,  and  which  was 
aggra»?ated  by  the  fogs  and  mists  that  overhung  the  current. 

The  experience  of  this  cruise,  and  its  confirmation  of  the  permanent 
existence  of  these  two  great  currents,  running  in  opposite  directions, 
side  by  side,  while  the  equatorial  current  was  flowing  with  nearly 
equal  velocity  at  almost  right  angles  to  them,  made  a  strong  impres- 
sion upon  my  mind,  and  set  it  to  work  to  find  out 


i  1 


I  ( 


THKIU  OKIGIN    AND   WIUTHKU  THKV    LED. 

Sailing  again  for  China  and  Japan  in  1852,  in  the  expedition  under 
Commodore  Perry,  1  fortunately  had  assigned  to  me  such  subjects  for 
scientific  and  professional  investigation,  as  enabled  me  to  liave  such 
instiuctioiis  issued  to  the  various  vessels  of  the  squadron  as  would 
iusurt^  their  keeping  very  accurate  and  full  meteorological  records. 

After  our  return  to  the  United  States,  these  records  were  placed  in 
kny  hands  for  the  purpose  of  tracing,  as  far  as  possible,  the  location, 
direction,  and  force  of  the  currents  in  that  part  of  the  Pacific  and 
adjacent  seas  lying  witliin  the  cruising  grounds  of  the  sixteen  vessels 
that  comprised  the  expedition. 

The  result  of  this  work  was  the  discovery  of  the  system  of  currents 
in  the  Pacific,  to  which  I  have  referred. 


i  .  5 

i :  1 


THK   DICVKLOPMEXT 


of  these  facts,  as  the  data  were  placed  in  available  form  upon  the 
chart,  created  no  small  degree  of  surprise  and  gratification,  and  natu- 
rally led  to  reflection  and  inquiry  as  to  where  the  coautor-curronts  of 
the  Oulf  Stream  and  Kuro-Siwo  had  their  origin,  and  how  far  their 


15 


compensating  lulluonce  kept  up  tlie  etiuilibrium  of  the  waters  of  the 
oceans.  Tlie  prominent  features  of  the  subject,  as  it  presented  itself  to 
the  mind,  were  very  niarlvcd,  and,  as  before  observed,  were  identical  in 
almost  all  their  parts,  in  both  Iho  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans. 

Here  were  the  two  great  currents  of  the  world,  one  in  each  of  tho^tc 
oceans,  running  to  the  westward  along  the  equator,  and  known  as  the 
equatorial  currents. 

That  in  the  Atlantic,  after  mostly  passing  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  fiiuling  no  other  outlet,  has  all  that  portion  of  its  volume  forced 
out  to  the  eastward  along  the  north  side  of  Cuba,  until  passing  the 
southern  extremity  of  Florida,  when  it  is  deH.'cfed  sharp  to  tlie  nortli- 
ward,  along,  and  not  far  distant  from,  the  t-oast  of  the  United  States, 
and  forming  the  Gulf  Stream;  wliilst  that  in  the  Pacific,  in  great  part 
passing  through  the  Polynesian  Islands  and  China  Sea,  has  a  large 
shaving,  as  It  were,  torn  off  its  northern  side  by  the  south  end  of  For- 
mosa, which,  with  its  current  concentrated,  is  thrown,  like'  the  Gulf 
Stream,  with  increased  velocity,  short  to  the  northward,  and  forming 
the  Kuro-Siwo.  These  two  currents,  obeying  certain  jihysical  laws, 
bend  gradually  to  the  eastward  as  they  proceed  north,  but,  meeting 
with  local  obstructions  in  the  continents  and  islands  that  lie  in  their 
paths,  are  in  great  part  turned  to  the  southward — the  one  along  the 
west  coast  of  Europe  and  the  other  along  the  west  coast  of  America, 
ameliorating  the  climates  of  both  these  faces  of  the  two  continents  by 
their  genial  warnith,  and  tinally  falling  again  into  the  currents  of  the 
equator.  Portions  of  both  of  these  streams,  however,  pursue  their 
courses  to  the  northward  and  eastward  into  the  Arctic  Ocean;  that 
from  the  Gulf  Stream  going  between  Spitzbergen  and  Nova  Zembla, 
and  that  from  the  Kuro-Siwo  by  liehring's  Straits.  The  accnmulation 
of  water  about  the  Pole  from  these  two  otF-shoots  must,  of  course,  have 
an  outlet  somewhere,  and  it  is  here  that  we  find 


THE  OKir.tN   OF   THE   COIXTEK   nURUKNTS 


in  question,  in  the  hyperborean  currents  that  drain  off  this  excess  of 
water  from  about  the  Pole.  The  first,  finding  its  way  through  the  pas- 
sages and  channels  leading  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  into  Baffin  Bay  and 
Davis  Straits,  runs  thence  down  the  coast  oi  Labrador  and  wedges 
itself  in  between  the  Gulf  Stream  and  the  coast  of  the  United  States, 
making  the  counter  current  to  the  Gulf  Stream;  the  second,  finding  but 
a  narrow  passage  at  Bchring's  Straits,  is,  l»y  its  greater  specific  gravity, 
forced  under  the  warm  water  flowing  to  the  north  through  these  straits, 
and  reappears  at  the  surface  again  on  the  coast  of  Kamtsdiatka,  and 
jiasses  thence-  down  the  Japan  Sea  and  Formosa  channel,  into  the  (ihina 
Sea,  forming  the  counter  current  to  the  Kuro-Siwo,     There  is  also 


ii 


16 


A    THIRD   (IIIRIIENT 


whicli  II0W8  to  tlie  south,  iilong  tlio  cast  coast  of  (Jrcoii'iiud,  and  which 
beai'H  in  its  embmces  (lie  hirfjest  of  tiie  icebergs  llint  are  seen  in  tlio 
North  Alhmtic,  and  wliioh  nndcrrnns  tlie  Gulf  StrcamiaB  the  latter 
crosses  the  Atlantic. 


n  \' 


KANES   OPEN   I'OKAU   SKA. 

Just  as  the  work  was  completed  upon  these  currents  in  the  North 
racific,  in  IHA;'),  the  news  was  received  in  the  United  States  that  Dr. 
Kane  had  discovered  an  open  sea  near  the  Pole,  and  |)eoi)!c  began  to 
ask  how  (hat  could  be  possible,  when  it  was  well  known  that  a  belt 
or  region  of  ice  H!venil  hundred  miles  in  width  must  lie  to  the  south  of 
that  sea,  and  which  was  never  dissolved. 

The  charts  were  upon  my  table,  at  which  I  was  daily  at  work,  show- 
ing the  Gulf  Stream  and  the  Kuro-Siwo  as  they  are  now  exhibited 
before  you  (except  the  coloring),  with  Iheir  warm  branches  or  forks 
extending  by  Spitzbcrgen  and  Behring's  Straits,  and  perfectly  deter- 
mined in  both  their  width  and  direction  as  far  as  this  ice  belt  is  sup- 
posed to  exist.  Now  applying  the  axiom  in  the  physical  science  of  the 
sea,  as  laid  down  by  Maury,  "  that  whenever  a  current  or  stream  of 
wafer  is  found  llowing /rom  any  point  in  the  ocean,  otht;r  streams  or 
currents  of  eipial  volume  must  How  fo  that  point,''  and  knowing  that 
imuiense  currents  flowed  constantly  dowii,/Vom  the  Arctic  Ocean  by 
every  avenue  ojiening  into  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  except  along  the 
pathways  of  these  northern  forks  of  the  Gulf  Stream  and  Kuro-Siwo, 
it  was  ahnost  impossible  that  the  idea  should  not  occur  to  my  mitul, 
that  these  were  the  streams  that  not  only  carried  this  excess  of  water 
to  the  Pole,  but  also  that  the  warmth  they  carried  with  them  was 

THK   UIHECT   AM)   SOLE   (,'AIJSK 

of  this  open  sea,  and  that  their  paths  through  the  ice-belt  offer  the 
only  highways  for  ships  to  that  sea;  and  1  so  stated  it  in  my  oflicial 
report  on  the  Kuro-Siwo  to  (^oui.  Perry. 

l)K.    KANE 

called  at  my  oflicc  in  New  York  on  his  return  from  this  expedition  in 
1855,  and  I  suggested  to  liim  that  the  open  sea  he  had  discovered  most 
likely  owed  its  existence  to  the  Gulf  Stream  and  the  Kuro-Siwo.  He 
seemed  impressed  by  the  facts  presented  to  him,  and  in  his  narrative, 
vol.  1,  p.  300,  admits,  not  only  the  possibility  of  such  being  the  case, 
but  speaks  of  it  as  being  altogether  likely. 

Still  impressed  with  these  facts  in  1808,  when  so  many  expeditions 
for  the  Pole  were  spoken  of,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  I 
addressed  a  communication  to  the  lion.  Chas.  P.  Daly,  as  President  of 


i'<i 


wmmmmm 


17 


THK    AMKKICAN   <;KO(;i. AI'IIKJAl.   AND  STATISTUJAL  SOC'IKTY 

Of  New  Yoi-k,  .setting  forth  these  facts  iui«l  liypothese.s  in  detail,  and 
con(rhi(led  by  sayinji,',  that  "  if  my  theory  proves  nnwortiiy  tlie  con- 
sideration of  your  learned  association,  why  there  the  matter  will  pro- 
bal)ly  end;  but  if  it  is  correct,  then  I  hope  my  humble  suggestion  may, 
in  God's  providence,  be  the  means  of  arresting  th(!  recurrence  of  tho 
sad  calamities  that  liave  so  often  attended  former  expeditions,  and 
perhaps  facilitate  the  solution  of  the  great  geographical  problem  which 
has  so  long  occupied  th((  attention  of  men  of  science!"  I  also  stated, 
that  I  had  Just  learned  from  a  newspaper  telegram  that  a  private  yacht 
had  sailed  during  the  past  summer  for  the  Pole  by  way  of  Spitzbergen 
—that  she  was  on  the  right  track,  and-lf  she  was  a  steamer,  and  fol- 
lowed tho  water  Ihermometer,  she  would  most  likely  accomplish  her 
object,  ami  her  return  might  soon  be  looked  for.     J  received 


AN    ANSWKll    inOM    .IIJIMiK    DAI-V 


iis  fodows: 


AMKitn  AN  (;i:0(ii£Ai'iii<Ai,  AND  kStatistkal  Sociktv,  ? 

Nkw  Yokk,  Oct.  «,  18(>8.         < 
Dkau  Sir: 

I. beg  leave  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communication.  I 
have  read  it  with  a  great  deal  of  interest,  and  will  place  it  before  the 
Society  at  the  earliest  possible  opportunity. 

The  yacht  to  which  you  refer,  that  attempted  tiie  passage  by  the  Spitz- 
bergen route,  has  returned  to  Spitsbergen,  but  we  are  not  advised  of 
the  cause. 

I  will  see  that  you  are  duly  advised  of  the  opinion  expressed  unon 
your  paper.  '■ 

Ycvy  truly  \ours, 

CHAS.  P.  DALY. 
Sii.AS  Bknt,  Es(i. 

KEl'LY. 

I  then  wrote  again  (o  .Judge  Daly,  thanking  him  for  his  courtesy, 
giving  some  additional  suggestions,  and  said  that  I  expected  to  hear 
that  the  failure  of  the  yacht  to  penetrate  the  ice  was  owing  to  her  hav- 
ing tried  to  go  due  north  from  Spitzbergen,  instead  of  to  th"  northward 
and  eastward,  along  ihe  path  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  and,  "  that  there  is  an 
open  sea,  with  a  temperature  permanently  above  the  freezing  point, 
surrounding  the  North  Pole,  (and  the  South  Pole  too,  for  that  m°atter,)  * 

*  Sir  James  Uoss,  R.  N.,  witli  the  Erebus  luul  Terror,  in  1841,  penetrated  the 
Soutli  Open  Polar  Sea  by  uiieonsciously  following  the  Australian  Stream,  indicated 
oil  my  map,  and  reached  latitude  IH}^  S.,  near  the  meridian  of  180-^  from  Green- 
wich, the  highest  southern  point  ever  attained;  wliilst  the  Ameriean  expediUon 
und.T  Commodore  Cliailes  Wilkes,  L'.  8.  N. ,  by  having  kept  farther  to  the  west- 


18 

1  had  no  doul.t ;  ami  n.at,  If  this  is  the  case,  to  reach  Iho  Pole  it  must  be 
done  in  ships,  and  the  only  avenues  by  which  they  can  enter  this  polar 
seaisby  tblowin,Mho  ( J ulf  Stream  or  Kuro-Siwo  in  then- northeas  - 
wlrdlv'conrses  to  that  sca-thcse  alVording  the  only  ---^-blo  channel. 
r..Htewavs  through  the  ice  surrounding  that  sea ;  and  to  hnd  and  fol- 
low  these,' the  water  thermometer  is  the  only  guide. 

Instead    however,  of  laying  my  letters  before  that  hocety  ''at  the 
the  earliest  possible  opportunity,"  Judge  Daly  relcrrcd  them  to 

1)11.    I.    I.    IIAVKS, 

Who  adherin-  to  the  old  idea  of  reaching  the  Polo  by  the  way  ot 
l^affiii's  Ba  °n,d  who  was,  at  that  time,  endeavoring  to  get  .ontrd.u- 
o^s  tb.  e  titling  out  of  au  expedition,  to  be  place.l  under  his  com- 
Znl  erv  naturanv  did  n<,t  wish  public  attention  to  be  disturbed  by 
am  t'leorvut  variance  with  his  own,  and  "was  not,'  as  Judge  Da  y 
sa  .  'n  u  h  impressed"  with  my  views;  and  in  an  address  deliver  d 
be foi-e  t  e  Geoc^r  phical  Society  in  November,  1HC«,  in  advocacy  ot  h  s 
owmectwhe,  speaking  of  the  Spitsbergen  and  Behring's  Straits 
roT  e  as  he  Tea.t  practicable  of  all  others,  Dr.  Hayes  mentioned  ui>'- 
::,nm:ng  a  tbw  others,  as  being  in  favor  of  t.iat  by  P.ehnng  s  Strait. 

INATTENTION. 

regrit  that  I  was  not  there  myself  to  read  them. 

ATTENTION . 

In  Tanuarv  IST...  Judge  Daly  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  long 
J:^Z;:^,  Is  PrJdent^o^U^^  "I" 

— ~  7 „      "  „f  thit  sti-paiii    encountered  the  ice  barrier  m 

.latitude  0.>'  S.,  longitude  K  .    E..  ^    "\    '^^  ^,^j  ,„u,,,  i,,vond  latitude  (16' 

avenue  to  tlie  Soutli  Pol<'. 


19 

tended  to  be  a  crushing-  ciiticisiu  of  my  addi-eHs,  and  of  tJic  veiv  able 
and  coniiiliinenlany  reviews  of  it  wlilcli  Pror.  T.  H.Maury  bad  written 
for  Pnfnavi'.t  Mat/mine. 


TIIK    IIOSIIM:   STUICTIUE8. 

It  Ik  inipos.^ible  to  givo  yon  those  Htrictnres  of  .ludj-e  Daly  in  extemo, 
as  tinne  v/ill  not  admit  of  it.  But  whilst  I  acknowiedjce,  that  all  the 
animus  of  bis  iir«,annentH  is  decidedly  adverse,  yet,  I  must  say,  that 
almost  every  fact  be  offers  tends  directly  to  the  support  of  the  thermo- 
metric  theory;  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  experience,  which  the 
Judji-o  complacently  claims  for  himself,  in  "sifting/  testimony,"  it 
requires,  I  think,  no  great  familiarity  with  the  "  laws  of  evidence''  to 
see  that  be  has  no  very  forcible  way  of  putting  bis  own  testimony;  for 
no  sooner  does  he  make  a  slatement  against  the  theory,  than  be  refutes 
his  own  argument  by  facts  in  its  favor;  and  in  (bis  be  does  not  even 
spare  bis  friends,  whom  be  (^alls  to  bis  supi)ort;  for  after  reading  a  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Geo.  VV.  Blunt,  written  at  bis  solicitation,  in  which  Mr. 
Blunt  says,  "  T  send  you  my  -North  Atlantic  Memoir,'  which  contains 
all  the  accurate  information—!  am  sorry  to  say,  not  a  great  deal— about 
that  much  misrepresented  current  of  the  ocean,  the  Gulf  Stream,  which 
body  has  (o  bear  wilb  the  inventions  of  Maury,  the  stupidity  of  weather 
predictors,  and  the  assumptions  of  meteorologists— enough,  either  of 
them,  to  crush  out  (be  vitality  of  anything  which  bad  not  so  perfect  an  or- 
gajiization  as  the  CJiilf  Stream  has."  *  ♦  "  Beyond  the  Western  Islands, 
I  believe  thai  (be  Gulf  Stream  has  no  existence,  and  that  t lie  alleged 
effects  of  it  on  the  climate  of  (be  British  Islands  are  due  to  the  asser- 
tions of  the  class  I  have  8i)okeu  of  in  the  tirst  paragraph  of  my  letter."' 
*  "The  (Julf  Stream,  as  a  current,  I  believe,  entirely  ceases  and 
loses  all  i(s  equatorial  beat  to  the  eastward  of  the  longitude  of  40"-' 
west."  Then  Judge  Daly  goes  almost  directly  on  to  say,  "  that  the 
German  expedidon  of  ISC',*,  as  I  have  already  stated,  found  piles  of 
drift-wood  twenty  feet  high  upon  the  scatboast  shore  of  Spitzbergen. 
Captain  Torrell,  iu  isdl,  picked  up  a  well-known  bean  on  Shoal  Point, 
that  bad  found  its  way  from  the  Gulf,  of  Mexico,  and  the  Swedish 
explorers  of  l>S(;,s  say:  'During  our  cruisiugs  amid  the  ice,  we  col- 
lected a  number  of  i)iecos  of  drilt-wood  and  glass  balls,  of  tlio  kind 
used  as  floats  in  (be  Lotlbdeu  fisheries,  showing  ibat  (besc  arctic  seas 
are  not  without  these  surlacc  indications  which  serve  as  a  guide  to  the 
mariner  of  the  course  of  currents." "" 

Did  the  time  permit,  or  their  importance  warrant  it,  I  could  give  you 
a  dozen  or  more  Just  such  contradictions  from  this  ren)arkable  produc- 
tion; but  I  will  content  myself  by  commending  the  address  for  your 
perusal,  to  show  how  weak  an  argument  an  able  man  can  njake  when 
treating  a  subject  of  which  be  is  ignorant. 


20 


MISQUOTATION". 

Thero  i.  on..  punii?rai.l.,  I.owevcr,  nnu..,-  others,  in  which  Juago 
D.  I  ni.  note.  me.  that  I  nmst,  in  jn.li.c  to  .ny  training  a.  a  Heaman 
„  t  .  nit  lie  says,  -H^ai.tain  Benfs  theory  is  ^^.h  =  'that  th  .  . 
Sfroani  of  the  Vtlantic  and  the  warm  Japanese  current  of  the  1  auflc, 
a  Th  .n  h,^  ''  the  vi-inity  of  the  I'ole,  where,  he  th  nk.,  those 
cw,  .  s  Lnite,  and,  discharging  their  heat,  produce  an  opon  'ohu-  bo.. 
Ho  i.  ..f  the  opinion  that  these  .•urro.,t>  are  the  prune  and  only  cause  ot 
ho  Uistenceol  this  sea,  and  that  they  con.titntc  the  only  pract.caWe 
aenushv  which  ships  can  reach  it  or  .he  Pole;  or,  to  Ufc  las  own 
langm  -/'the  way  to  the  Pole  is  by  following  the  course  of  these  cur- 
lentrwhich  are  water  thernunnetcrs,  and  n,ay  be  termed //.e  ^/.em.- 

"t^'Z:::!":^"::^!^  ^now  t,.  G.n-  ....^n  or  Kur^Slwo  iVom 
awate^t  irmon^et^^^^    but  1   beg  h.  will  believe  me,  that  I  have  been 

he  n..ht,  however,  of  tlic  results  of  the  explorations  and  discov- 
ert   llllrlice  Judge  Daly  ami  the  (^eograpldcal  Soc^ty^^^^^ 
the  dan.n-rous  course  of  denouncing  a  theory  belore  it  had  l>«en  t  Jted» 
U  the.e"gentlenxe,i  can  lind  r.ny  sustaining  com.ort,  I  su.cerelj  wish 
them  joy  in  its  possession. 

IJKiKKSSlON— O.  i:VN    ANO   <  I.IMVrK. 

I  will  here  interrupt  the  thread  of  the  discourse  for  a  few  moments, 
to  av    eoe    m  ^akeu  torn  -y  form  r 

ad  i  es  1  which  is  incidental  to,  or  has  grown  out  of,  my  ret^ection 

:^;r;,;':u.:r.and  though  possessing  -^/f  ^^;« --^^;:r^ 

which  altaches  to  polar  discussions,  yet  which,   for  the^"/«'^f ''J^' 
it.       ,  the  safety  of  co.n.nerce,  and  the  advancement  o    meteo  o- 
"'■^^'o  '  .      ,  .  ,  ..   ,^f  .ra^tiv   .rreator    inportance  tliau  lli> 

Ino-ical  science,  is,  I  consider,  ot  va>tl>    gitaici    mii»^ 
S"'.vo'r,housi;. he  gateway,  tu  .he  I'o.e  ,„igh.  be  louud  opeu  .., 
six  months  out  of  the  twelve. 

K(iOTISM. 

As  this  hypothesis  is  the  result  of  personal  experience  f""/  «b««'''^'^; 

fhnt  I  have  na«sod  ii;   ■.  .5  ns  regions  of  the  world. 

Of  tl  e  tw  n.v-tl      ^e.v   th.t  I  was  in  the  navy,  two  years  and  a  halt 
wcM-lsro"tTu  the  (.uM-oi  Mexico  and  the  West  Indies-eight  or  ten 


21 

nioiitliH  on  the  east  coaHt  ol' Soiitli  Aiiilmhu— 1  liavc  bcoiMnuc  nmiul 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  stopping'  iil  Maaoiia,  St.  Jlclona,  Capo  Town, 
and  Maiu'ifius— doubled  Ciipc  Hoiii  toin-  limei-— w;»s  fom-  years  in 
the  I'acillc  and  at  the  various  ports  .slretchin<,'  IVoni  I'atugonia  to  Orc- 
Kon— twice  aeross  tiie  I'acillc  Ocean:  onco  by  the  cipuitorial  current 
and  ajfain  by  the  i>iilh  of  the  Knro-Si  wo— nearly  three  year-  in  China, 
Japan,  and  the  Kast  rndies— p.-wsed  up  the  Ked  Sea  into  Kj^v  pi— spent 
llftecn  months  ci-nisin;;  in  the  Mediteminean,  visiting  all  important 
points  fron' Gibraltar  to  the  Black  Sea— eighteen  months  traveling  oil 
the  coiitinen:  md  in  the  Hnlish  Islands— have  eroi-sed  the  Atlantic  live 
times,  and  was  engaged  lour  years  on  the  survey  ot  our  Atlantic  coast. 
Uiuing  this  time,  when  atloal,  it  was  a  part  of  my  duty  either  to  take 
observations  myself,  or  to  receive  reports  of  theniTroni  olliers,  upon  the 
temperature  of  the  air  and  water,  force  and  direction  of  the  winds,  and 
general  character  of  the  weather,  wliich  are  habitually  recorded,  at 
least,  every  two  hours,  and  which,  in  that  way,  compel  these  matters  to 
become  an  ever-present  sul»ject  to  the  minds  of  naval  officers,  as  well  as 
an  important  part  of  their  pr()fcs>iona!  education. 

<i.ni\ii(    <  II  u{.\(  Ti;i{. 

A  contemplation  of  this  chart,  with  all  these  great  current-  of  the 
ocean,  made  apparent  to  the  eye  atone  glance,  an"d  recalling  tomindtlie 
climates,  as  I  have  experienced  i  hem,  in  almost  every  portion  of  the  earth 
bordering  on  the  oceans,  between  the  latitudes  of  sixty  <lcgrees  north 
and  sixty  degrees  south,  I  cannot  divest  myself  of  the  conviction  that 
all  countries  so  situated  derive  their  climatic  character  (whenever  that 
differs  from  what  is  due  to  the  latitude)  entirely  from  the  ocean  cur- 
rents that  wash  their  coasts,  and  not  at  all  from  those  which,  though 
flowing  near  them,  do  not  touch  their  shores.  To  show  you  the  grounds 
upon  which  I  base  this  conclusion.  I  will  occupy  your  attention  for  a 
few  moments  whilst  I  endeavor  to  lay  Iheni  before  you.  We  will  start 
with  what  is  known  as 


Tin;  iiimijomh'  <'i  i!im:nt, 
which,  coming  from  the  Antarctic  Ocean,  and  splitting  on  Cape  Horn, 
Hows  with  its  greatest  volunni  to  the  uorihward,  along  the  whole  west 
coast  of  Sonth  America.  The  climate;  there  is  cool,  and,  as  you 
approach  the  eepiator,  the  temperature  is  so  much  below  what  is  due  to 
the  latitude,  that  at  Linni.  in  twelve  legrees  sonth  latitude,  woolen 
clothing  is  necessary  for  comfort  during  several  months  of  the  year, 
and  the  heat  is  never  oppressive.  Tiie  common  belief  is,  that  this  is 
owing  to  the  close  provimity  of  the  Andes;  but.  as  like  causes  produce 
like  effects,  if  this  were  the  case,  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which  lies  quite  as 
near  to  the  coasts  of  California  a-ul  Mexico  as  the  Andes  do  to  those  of 
Chili  and  Peru,  would  give  similar  cool  climates  to  those  countries;  but 


'>9 


tbis  they  do  uot  possess,  but,  on  the  contrary,  tboy  have  warm  climates, 
derivetl,  as  before  staled,  from  the  influence  of  the  Kuro-Siwo.  The 
Kuro-Siwo,  from  having  beer,  in  contact  with  the  land  in  high  latitudes, 
which  robbed  it  freely  of  its  warmth,  reaches  the  eciuatorial  belt  with  a 
comparatively  low  temperature,  but  still  not  so  low  as  that  of  the  Hum- 
boldt current  from  the  south;  consonuently,  we  ^nd  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  in  twenty-two  degrees  north  latitude,  /ith  very  nearly  the 
same  climate  as  the  Mariiucsas  grosp,  ly:ng  rnU-  ten  degrees  south  of 
the  equator,  both  being  within  the  immediate  regioi.  of  confluence  of 
those  two  streams,  \vhere  they  form  the  great  equatorial  current  of  the 
Pacific,  and  these  islands  stand  unrivaled,  in  their  delightful  climate,  by 
any  other  spots  on  the  earth's  surface. 

(JUMII>ATIVE   UK\r. 

We  will  now  start  west  with  the  equatorial  current,  the  waters  of  which 
are  but  just  brougiit  under  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  from  which  they 
continue  to  accumulate  heat  so  long  as  they  remain  within  the  tropics. 
We  come  first  to  the  Ladrone  Islands,  which  have  a  much  warmer 
climate  than  the  two  groups  just  spol<eu  of;   then  to  the  Philippine 
Mauds,  where  the  heat  is  quite  oppressive  even  in  winter,  but  which 
increases  in  fervor  as  we  reach  Malacca,  is  all  aglow  in  India,  and 
becomes  stifling  in  its  intensity  as  these  waters— after  traveling  fifteen 
thousand  -.I'iles  and  been  fully  three  hundred  days  under  a  vertical  sun 
-are  thrown  against  the  eastern  shores  of  Africa.    Here  this  currenfe 
is  deflected  to  the  southward  to  the  Cape  of  <  Jood  Hope,  from  whence 
it  starts  with  its  burden  of  heat  to  keep  an  "  open  sea"  abont  the  South 
Pole      It  does  not  double  round  this  cape  and  flow  to  the  northward  on 
the  west  coast  of  Africa,  as  usually  represented  on  n.aps,  although  theie 
is  a  current  there  running  in  that  direction;  for  Sir  James  Ross,  in 
1842,  discovered  that  these  -.vere  two  distinct  currents-that  to  the  east 
of  the  cape,  flowing  south,  being  a  hot  current  from  the  tropics,  as  just 
described,  whilst  that  to  the  west  of  the  cape,  flowing  north,  :«  a  cold 
Antarctic  current.     And  this  has  been  conflrmed  by  more  recent  obser- 
vations, taken  at  the  instigation  of  Con.modore  Maur.v,  and  also,  more 
fullv  to  mv  mind,  bv  the  marked  difterenco  of  climate  found  on  this 
west  coast."  when  compared  with  that  we  have  just  left  on  the  east  side 
of  Africa.    This  polar  current  continues  north  until  reaching  the  lorrul 
Zone,  and  meeting  the  reflux  of  the  ( iulf  Stream,  wucn,  the  two  uniting, 
form  the  equatorial  current  of  the  Atlantic.    DuChaillu    in  his  work 
on  Africa,  gives  the  mean  temperature  in  latitude  1°  :3()'  south,  from 
October  to  June,  and  embracing  the  warmest  part  ot  the  year,  as  7/°, 
the  highest  range  being  88°,  and  the  lowest  06°.    These  observations 
extended  from  the  coast  two  hundred  mile,  inland.    This  charming 
■climate,  directlv  under  the  cuator,  is,  1  am  satisfied,  owing  to  this 
cold  current  from   the  south.    Now,  continuing  west  again  trom  this 


28 


point  some  two  thousand  miles,  brings  lis  to  Brazil,  witli  its  fervid 
4rlimate;  but  as  the  waters  of  the  equatorial  current,  when  reaching 
there,  have  been  comparatively  but  a  short  time  directly  under  the  sun, 
the  thermometer  shows  no  such  intense  heat  as  that  on  the  cast  coast  of 
Africa.  This  current,  now  dividing  on  Cape  St.  Roijue,  the  larger  por- 
tion floAVS  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  form  the  Gulf 
Stream,  whilst  the  other  is  deflected  south  along  the  east  coast  of  South 
America,  and  so  elevating  its  climate,  that,  at  the  Falkland  Islands, 
1)2°  south,  cattle  subsist  by  grazing  throughout  the  year. 

CURllKNT    AT   CAPE   IIOUX. 

We  now  come  to  Cape  Horn.  And  here,  again,  some  of  the  standard 
atlases  have  fallen  into  another  error  in  supposing  this  current  to  double 
round  the  cape  and  form  the  Humboldt  current,  first  referred  to  in  this 
digression,  for  the  water  thermometer  tells  a  diflerent  story;  and,  as  an 
additional  proof  that  the  current  flowing  north  into  Atlantic  comes  from 
the  Antarctic  Ocean,  I  have,  myself,  seen  an  iceberg  brought  by  this  cur- 
rent to  GO°south  latitude,  which,  in  size,  was  far  beyond  any  I  have  ever 
seen  described  in  the  northern  seas :  and,  on  one  occasion,  in  passing  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  in  one  of  the  finest  frigates  in  the  navy,  we 
were  twenty-one  days  beating  and  struggling  against  this  current  and 
the  wind  before  we  doubled  the  cape;  and  on  another,  it  was  a  fort- 
night before  we  thought  it  safe  to  stretch  away  into  the  Pacific,  and  both 
times  ran  as  far  as  60°  south  latitude.  In  the  absence,  therefore,  of 
more  positive  data  than  I  have  here  given,  I  think  it  is  not  unreasonable 
to  believe  that  the  same  phenomenon  of  currents  will  be  found  to  exist 
here  that  has  been  described  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Elope ;  and  that  whilst 
the  Humboldt  current  comes  from  the  Antarctic  Ocean,  and  flows  north 
along  the  west  coast  of  South  xVnierica,  the  warm  branch  of  the  equa- 
torial current  of  the  Atlantic,  which  we  have  followed  down  the  east 
coast  from  Brazil,  probably  continues  its  course  to  the  southward  and 
eastward  into  the  South  Polar  Sea.  But,  whether  the  Humboldt  cur- 
rent is  a  recurvation  of  the  xVustralian  stream,  or  conies  from  the  inter- 
Polar  Ocean,  we  have  no  data  to  determine. 

The  same  general  system  of  currents,  I  am  satisfied,  will  be  found  to 
exist  in  the  southern  hemisphere  that  has  been  described  in  the  north- 
ern ;  modified,  of  course,  to  conform  to  the  widely  different  geographi- 
cal character  of  the  southern  extremity  of  the  earth  from  that  of  the 
northern.  In  crossing  over  from  the  south  side  of  Australia  to  New 
Zealand,  Sir  .lames  Ross  found  the  Australian  stream  to  be  three  hun- 
dred miles  in  width  at  that  point,  with  a  high  temperature,  and  setting 
strongly  to  the  southward  and  eastward.  Vessels  bound  from  Australia 
to  Cape  Horn,  or  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Australia,  keep  well 
to  the  southward,  about  the  parallel  of  .")0°,  in  order  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  eastwardly  currents  known  to  be  there,  and  which,  1  have  no 


24 

doubt,  arc  the  recurvatious  of  the  Austialiuu  and  Good  Hope  streams ; 
they,  like  the  Gulf  Stream  and  Kuro-Siwo,  throwing  only  portions  of 
their  volume  into  the  Polar  Sea,  whilst  the  rest  recurves  and  falls 
again  into  the  equatorial  f  .irrents  on  the  opposite  tides  of  the  oceans 
from  whence  they  spi'ing. 

TIIK    CI-niATE    or    ITALY. 

Of  the  oceanic   coasts  of  the  northern  hemisphere  1   have  before 
spoken,  but  not  of  those  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  which  I  will  now 
call  your  attention.    Naples,  in  southern  Italy,  is  in  the  same  latitude 
.as  New  York,  and  Genoa  and  Marseilles  about  the  same  parallel  as 
Toronto— yet,  at  Genoa  T  have  plucked  ripe  oranges  from  the  tree  early 
in  February,  and  Naples  has  even  a  much  more  vernal  climate.    This  is 
attributed  to  the  warm  winds  from  Africa:  but.  as  you  will  observe, 
these  winds  have  to  cross  the  Mediterranean    at  its  widest  part,  a  dis- 
tance of  near  ft)ur  hundred. miles.    Now,  if  these  Avinds  have  such 
influence  as  this,  why  should  not  those  from  the  perpetual  snows  of  the 
Alps  give  a  severe  climate  to  the  plains  of  France  and  Italy,  which  lie 
directly  at  their  feet,  and  not  fifty  miles  from  this  snow?    Yet  these 
plains,  in  the  latitude  of  Maine,  are  verdant  with  a  perennial  summer. 
The  winds,  therefore,  are  not  the  agency  that  produces  this,  but  rather 
the  warm  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  which,  as  a  sm-face  current,  flows 
constantly  into  the  Mediterranean  throngh  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and 
with  such  velocity,  too,  that  when  the  wind  is  from  the  westward,  sail- 
ing vessels  are  unable,  sometimes  for  weeks  together,  to  pass  out  into 
the  Atlantic.    But,  even  admit  that  the  winds  from  Africa  are  the 
cause,  then  whence  does  northern  Africa,  with  its  latitude  of  .'U"  north, 
obtain  such  an   excess  of  heat,  as  to  be  able  to  throw  off  enough 
across  the  whole  width  of  the  Mediterranean  to  change  so  materially 
the  climate  of  such  an  immense  region  as  this?    It  cannot  be  derived 
directly  from  the  sun,  for  DuChaillu,  as  before  shown,  found  a  lower 
average  of  temperature  within  one  degree  of  the  equator  than  is  enjoyed 
in  Italy.     But,  it  may  be  said,  northern  Africa  being  a  desert,  will 
account  for  its  being  so  much  hotter  than  the  region  visited  by  Du 
GhailUi.    This,  no  doubt,  has  its  effect,  but  not  to  the  extent  necessary 
to  produce  such  results ;  for  I  have  been  in  this  desert,  and  also  in  the 
Jungles  of  Ceylon  and  India,  where  the  rank  growtli  of  vegetation  was 
so  dense  that  the  sun's  rays  never  reached  the  soil,  yet  the  latter  were 
hotter  than  the  former,  because,  as  before  shown,  the  waters  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  are  hotter  than  those  of  the  Mediterranean.    The  latter, 
however,  are  sufficiently  warm,  when  bathing  the  shores  of  Spain, 
France,  and  Italy,  to  diffuse  heat  enough  to  give  them  the  delicious 
tropical  climates  they  enjoy. 
Pursuing  these  reflections,  this  matter  presents  a  phase  of 


pg^HgSS 


25 


INTERNATIONAL   IMPOKTANCK, 

wliicli,  were  it  not  for  the  inhumanity  of  exercising  such  a  power, 
might  place  the  whole  of  Europe  at  the  mercy  of  this  country.  For, 
admitting  that  Europe  derives  its  mild  climate  from  the  Gulf  Stream— 
which  few  now  dispute— then,  to  divert  this  stream  from  its  present 
direction,  would  he  to  bring  the  whole  of  Europe  at  once,  so  to  speak, 
to  its  normal  climatic  condition— that  is,  France  and  Austria  would 
liave  the  climate  of  Canada,  and  England,  Germany  and  northern 
Europe  would  become  a  frozen  wilderness,  such  as  British  America  and 
Labrador.  To  accomplish  this,  the  possession  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
and  the  expenditure  of  half  the  cost  of  the  recent  war  between  France 
and  Germany  in  the  excavation  of  a  sufficient  width  and  depth  of  the 
rock,  only,  that  infervenes  between  the  Carribbean  Sea  and  (he  Pacific; 
and  the  opening  of  a  small  sluice  through  the  soil  to  afford  a  beginning 
for  the  passage  of  the  water  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  but  a  short  time 
would  probably  elapse  before  the  channel  would  be  large  enough  to 
give  a  new  outlet  to  the  equatorial  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  cut  off 
that  excess  which  now  goes  to  make  the  Gulf  Stream. 

VERIFICATION. 

Let  us  now  see  how  far  this  hypothesis  is  sustained  by  the  knowrf 
climate  of  prominent  places,  to  only  a  icw  of  which  I  will  call  voui-" 
attention. 

Hammerfest,  in  Norway,  is  in  latitude  71°  N.;  bnl  its  shores  bein- 
bathed  by  the  tepid  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  its  climate  is  raised  sa 
much  above  that  due  to  the  latitude,  that  the  harbor,  was  never  known 
to  have  been  closed  by  ice,  and  its  fisheries  are  continued  throughout 
the  winter.  Following  this  parallel  of  71°  to  the  westward,  across  the^ 
Gult  Stream,  and  we  get  into  the  cold  currents  from  the  north,  and  on' 
reaching  the  islands  to  the  west  of  Baflin's  Bay,  we  find  ourselves  in- 
the  midst  of  those  regions  of  frightful  cold  in  which  Franklin  perished 
and  Crozier  was  for  so  many  years  imprisoned,  and  who  ultimately' 
died,  beyond  the  reach  of  succor. 

Liverpool,  in  latitude  53°  N.,  has,  by  the  ameliorating  influence  of  the 
Gult  Stream,  a  winter  temperature  as  high  as  that  of  Norfolk  in  lati- 
tude 37°  N.;  whilst  the  parallel  of  LiveTpooI  crosses  America  throuc.li 
the  trozen  wilderness  of  Labrador  and  British  America,  until  after  pass- 
ing the  meridian  of  100°  W.  the  climate  begins  to  partake  of  the  warmth 
ot  the  Kuro-Siwo,  from  the  Pacific;  on  the  coast  of  which  we  again  fiud 
a  climate  so  mild,  that  at  Sitka,  in  latitude  57°  N.,  ice  can  never  be  stored 
tor  the  summer.  Crossing  the  Pacific,  however,  on  the  parallel  of  Liv- 
erpool, we  reach  the  cold  current  from  Behring's  Straits;  and  in  Kam- 
schatka  and  Siberia  we  again  find  a  climate  only  so  much  less  severe 
than  that  of  Labrador  as  the  volume  of  this  latter  current  is  less  than 
that  from  Davis'  Straits. 


26 


ii 


The  delightful  climate  und(M-  the  equator  ou  the  west  coast  of  Africa, 
as  found  bv  DuChaillu,  is  derived  from  the  tempering  influence  of  tlio 
jrroat  curieiit  wliich  sweeps  from  the  Antartic  Ocean  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  laden  with  iceberp:s  of  such  vast  proportion  as  to  ^Iwarf  into  pig- 
mies the  largest  that  have  ever  floated  in  the  northern  hemisphere.  One 
of  these,  which  in  18.>4  reached  the  latitude  of  l(i°  S.,  was  (iO  miles  long 
by  40  broad,  and  reaching  an  uniform  elevation  of  from  two  to  three 
hundred  feet,  showed  that  it  had  a  depth  of  near  two  thousand  feet  be- 
low the  surface  of  the  ocean. 

This  cool  equatorial  climate  of  western  Africa  atfords  as  striking  a 
contrast  with  the  fervid  heat  of  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  in  South 
America,  as  has  just  been  shown  betAveen  the  opposite  shores  of  the 
north  Atlantic— for  the  equatorial  current,  embracing  the  coasts  ot 
Brazil,  stimulates  the  soil  by  its  warmth  and  humidity  to  such  a  degree 
4is  to  render  the  growth  of  vegetation  so  rank  and  rapid  that,  as  Buckle 
says,  "  no  energv  of  man  is  sufficient  to  subdue  it."' 

Following  the  'equator  westwardly  to  the  Paciflc  coast  and  we  find 
the  Galapagos  Islands,  a  few  hundred  miles  beyond,  enveloped  by  the 
"Humboldt current,'"  with  a  temperaiu're  so  low  that  coralines,  which 
inhabit  waters  of  ()«°  F.,  cannot  exist  there. 

Islands  in  the  midst  of  great  ocean  currents  have  climates  that  cor- 
respond with  the  temperature  of  the  water  that  surrounds  them— the 
equatorial  current  at  the  Philippine  Islands  having  a  temperature  of 
about  88°,  gives  to  this  group  the  climate  that  is  so  torrid  even  in 
mid-winter.     And,  if  the  open  Polar  Sea  is  as  extensive  as  1  suppose  it 
to  be,  the  climate.directly  at  the  Pole  can  never  be  of  a  temperature 
much  below  the  freezing  point.    For,  although  all  winds  at  the  Po  e 
must  blow  from  the  south,  and-unless  very  local-must  come  directly 
from  the  ice-belt  which  surrounds  that  sea,  (except  where  it  is  inter- 
rupted bv  the  avenues  made  through  the  ice  by  the  Gulf  Stream  and 
Ivuro-Siwo  )  yet,  ns  the  waters  of  that  sea  must  always  be  above  the 
freezing  point,  otherwise  ihey  would  freeze,  and  the  winds  have  to, 
necessarily,  pass  over  five  hundred  miles  of  this  warm  water  before 
reachii.c.  the  Pole,  thev,   no   doubt,  rob  the  water  of  enough  of  its 
warmth  to  raise  them  to  very  near,  if  not  .,uite,  the  temperature  of  the 
surroundin-  sea.    I  think  it  may  therefore  be  safely  predicted  that  the 
climate  at  the  Pole  is  far  more  equable,  ami  much  less  severe,  than  our 
own  wiutois  are  here  at  St.  Louis. 

1)1!.  caiu'EXTEh's  views. 
A  short  time  since,  there  was  a  lecture  delivered  in  London  by  Dr. 
Wm.  Carpenter,  F.R.S.,F.L.S,,  upon  "Ocean  Currents,"  in  which  while 
the  Doctor  endorses  the  general  contents  of  my  address-a  copy  ot  winch 
ho  had  received  from  America-he  devotes  his  lecture  to  the  refutation 
of  that  part  of  it  in  which  I  state,  that  if  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  was 


27 

removed  80  as  to  admit  of  the  equatorial  current  of  tlie  Atlantic  passing 
freely  into  the  Pacific,  tlie  Gulf  Stream  would  be  abolished,  and  the 
climate  of  England  and  Europe  would  be  reduced  to  its  normal  con- 
dition, similar  to  that  on  the  same  parallels  of  latitude  in  eastern 
America;  and  denies  that  the  mild  climate  of  the  British  Islands  and 
the  northwest  of  Europe  is  due  to  the  thermal  effects  of  the  Gulf 
Stream:  he  amusingly  alluded  to  the  very  humane  considerations  by 
which  America  might  consider  herself  deterred  from  meting  out  this 
dire  fate  to  so  lai-ge  a  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

Dr.  Carpenters  position  is,  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  obstructions 
offered  by  (he  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  Central  America  to  the  passage  of 
the  equatorial  Qurrent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  in  no  way  contri- 
bute towards  (he  production  of  (he  Gulf  Stream ;  and,  in  the  second  place, 
that  the  heat  from  the  Gulf  Stream  lias  no  influence  whatever  in  elevat- 
ing  the  cliraatcof  Europe  and  the  British  Islands.  Dr.  Carpenter  has 
recently  made  many  developments,  as  results  from  his  deep  sea  dredg- 
ings  and  his  chemical  and  thermal  analyses  of  the  waters  in  the 
Mediterranean  and  adjacent  Atlantic,  that  have  proven  most  valuable 
contributions  to  various  departments  of  science.  One  of  these  is  the 
satisfactory  determination  of  the  supposed  cause  of  the  vertical  cur- 
rents—for an  wflowinci  of  the  surface  water  through  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  and  an  outjioioiny  under  current  of  equal  strength  and 
velocity— which  is  always  found  there.  Dr.  Carpenter  attributes "  this 
to  the  greater  evaporation  that  takes  place  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
over  that  in  the  Atlantic,  outside  (he  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  illus- 
trates it  by  a  very  pretty  experiment,  for  which  I  have  not  the  appli- 
ances  to  repeat,  but  will  endeavor  to  explain  to  you  orally. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  waters  iji  the  Mediterranean"  and  adjacent 
Atlantic  were  of  a  uniform  depth  of  one  thousand  feet  aiuJ  were  at  rest. 
Evaporation  now  begins  and  a  layer  of  ten  feet  is  taken  off  the  surface 
of  the  Mediterranean.  This  destroys  the  equilibrium  of  volume  or 
quantity,  and  a  surface  current  begins  at  once  to  flow  from  the  Atlantic 
into  the  Mediterranean  to  restore  that  equilibrium.  When  this  is  done 
and  the  depth  of  the  water  in  the  Mediterranean  again  becomes  one 
thousand  feet,  the  equilibrium  of  weight  is  destroyed  by  the  additional 
salt  that  is  carried  in  by  the  new  layer  of  ten  feet  of  water  and  placed 
on  top  of  that  contained  in  the  original  thousand  feet— all  of  which 
was  left  behind  when  the  evaporation  of  the  water  took  place— this 
greater  weight  pressing  laterally  against  the  lighter  waters  of  the 
Atlantic,  fiows  out,  as  an  xw'.mv  current,  to  restore  this  disturbed  equi- 
librium of  wei-ght. 

Dr.  Carpenter's  opii  m  is,  that  the  same  phenomenon  is  produced  in 
the  cii(!uIat!on  of  the  v..,jans  by  the  disturbance  of  equilibrium  from 
the  expansion  by  heat  of  the  waters  in  the  tropics,  and  the  contraction 
by  cold  of  those  in  the  polar  and  northern  regions,  and  the  currents 


2H 


thus  produced  would  continue  to  flow  to  and  from  the  equator  and  the 
poles  wlieUicr  the  equatorial  or  tropical  belt  was  IVce  from  obstructlona 
or  not;  and  furthermore,  that  the  warm  waters  which  contribute  heat 
for  the  amelioration  of  the  climates  of  Europe  and  the  ^ritish  Islands 
come— in  conformity  with  this  law  of  circulation  just  explained— 
directly  north  from  the  tropics,  along  the  west  coast  of  Africa  and 
Spain,  on  their  way  to  the  polar  regions. 

Now,  1  entirely  agree  with  Dr.  Carpenter,  that  these  influences  lorno, 
the  basis  of  the  oceanic  and  inter-oceanic  circulation,  and  that,  if  the 
earth  was  at  rest,  this  circulation  would  be  uniformly  vertical,  and  as 
uuif.irmly  due  north  and  south  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  But  Dr. 
Carpenter  seems  to  I'orget  that  there  are 

OTHKK  (iUKAT   I'OKCES 

caused  l.v  the  revolving  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  wjuch,  if  not  of 
primary  iu.portance  i.i  the  production  of  ti>c  currents,  are  at  least,  very 
potential  in  changing  the  direction  of  this  circulation,  as  I  have  belore 
explained  to  vou,  in  showing  why  the  currents  incline  obliquely  to  the 
eai  when  flowing  from  equatorial  regions  to  the  north  or  south,  and 
obliquely  to  the  west  when  flowing  from  the  polar  regions  towards  the 

^'TereH  not  forthisobliquity  of  flow,  the  cold  currents  which,  accord- 
in*  to  Dr.  Carpenter's  theory,  must  nlways  be  (mrfer  currents,  would 
never  appear  at  the  surface  of  the  sea;  but  this,  we  k"o>v,  is  iiot  the 
case,  as  every  one  who  crosses  the  western  limits  ot  the  Gult  b  ream 
and  Kuro-Siwo  sees  on  passing  through  the  heavy  "tide-rips  that 
mark  the  chaflng  where  they  rub  swiftly  against  the  cold  currents  from 
the  north  that  intervene  between  them  and  the  continents  to  the  west. 
There  is 

ANOTHKU   I'OKCK, 

or  law  of  mechanics,  which  has  been  well  established  and  long  known, 
with  which  Dr.  Carpenter's  position  very  strangely  conflicts. 

This  law  was  demonstrated  by  Mr.  William  Ferreil,  of  Cambridge, 
in  1860,  and  is  regarded  as  an  extension  of  lladley's  explanation  ot  the 
trade  winds.    Fenell's  demonstration  is  in  the  following  torm,  viz: 

<'  In  whatever  direction  a  body  moves  on  the  surface  ot  the  earth, 
there  is  a  force  arising  from  the  earth's  rotation  which  deflects  it  to  the 
right  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  but  to  the  left  in  the  southern  -(p. 
'>5  Farrell's  Motion  of  Fluids  and  Solids  Relative  to  the  Earth's  Surface). 
"  It  follows,  from  this  law,  that  in  the  northern  hemisphere  every 
river  current  tends  or  presses  more  towards  its  right  bank  than  towards 
its  left,  no  matter  which  way  its  course  may  lie,  whether  east  and  west, 
like  the  Ohio,  or  north  and  south,  like  the  Mississippi,  or  in  any  other 
direction. 


29 


So,  too,  a  railroad  train  must  always  bear  more  heavily  on  the  right 
Tail  of  the  track  alonji;  which  it  is  flyiiij?. 

Without  stopping?  to  discuss  this  law  of  terrestrial  mechanics,  It  may 
be  enough  to  point  out  that  it  must  be,  in  some  de-^ree,  potential  in  giv- 
ing direction  to  the  trade  winds  and  ocean  currents.  It  may  be  coun- 
teracted, and  is  sometimes  counteracted  by  greater  forces,  but  always 
makes  itself  felt  in  the  resultant  motion.  Dr.  Carpenter  and  his  co- 
theorists— of  whom,  however,  there  are  but  few  even  in  England — 
bring  the  Gulf  Stream  to  Newfoundland  and  there  leave  it.  Tliey 
forget  that,  if  no  other  forces  were  at  work  to  carry  it  to  the  north 
and  east,  this  very  law  of  the  earth's  rotation  would  carry  it  onward 
towards  the  British  Islands. 

THE   GUM'    HTKKAM    HKAT. 

As  to  the  amount  of  heat  evolved  by  the  Gulf  Stream,  Mr.  James 
Croll  says  that  "  The  quantity  of  heat  conveyed  by  the  Gulf  Stream  is 
equal  to  all  the  heat  received  from  the  sun  by  3,121,870  square  miles  at 
the  equator."  Now,  for  the  sake  of  ai-gument,  if  we  only  take  the  half 
of  this  total,  it  is  easily  shown,  as  Mr.  Croll  does  show,  that  the  stop- 
page of  the  Gulf  Stream  proper  (meaning  simply  the  Gulf  current  at 
Bemina)  would  deprive  the  Atlantic  of  upwards  of  77,479,650,000,000,- 
000,000  (seventy-seven  millions  of  trillions)  foot-pounds,  of  energy  in 
the  form  of  heat,  per  day — a  quantity  equal  to  one-fourth  of  all  the 
heat  received  Irom  the  sun,  by  nearly  the  entire  area  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  embraced  between  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  and  the  Arctic  Circle. 

Now,  if  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  Central  America  were  removed 
so  as  to  allow  the  equatorial  current  from  the  Atlantic  to  flow  freely 
into  the  Pacitic  Ocean,  the  Gulf  Stream  would  be — in  my  opinion — 
destroyed,  and  all  this  enormous  amount  of  heat  taken  from  the  Atlan- 
tic; little  or  none  of  which  comes  to  the  American  continent,  but  the 
most  of  which,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  enures  to  the  amelioration 
of  the  climate  of  the   British  Islands  and  the  continent  of  Europe. 

Since  my  former  address, 

THE   SUEZ   CANAL 

has  been  opened,  and,  as  I  had  predicted,  the  current  is  reported  aa 
flowing  through  it  from  the  Red  Sea  into  the  Mediterranean  at  the  rate 
of  from  one  to  ihree  miles  per  hour.  That  in,  where  the  canal  is  con- 
fined between  banks,  the  current  is  rapid;  but  whore  the  water  from 
the  canal  spreails  out  Into  lakes,  the  current  is  sluggish;  and  I  venture 
the  belief  that  if  the  cut  of  this  canal  was  as  wide  and  deep  as  the  Red 
Sea,  the  flow  of  hot  water  from  it  ii.to  the  Mediterranean  would  be 
sufiicient  to  materially  elevate  the  climatic  temperatu-e  of  the  whole  of 
southern  Europe,  and  produce  an  outflowing  current  through  the  whole 
width  and  depth  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  thus  destroying  the  inflow- 
ing surface  current,  as  it  now  exists  there. 


30 

For  my  pamphlet  to  be  noticed  at  all  by  a  man  so  eminent  for  scien- 
tific attainments  as  Dr.  Carpenter,  I  accept  as  a  compliment,  even 
without  the  endorsement  he  gives  the  greater  part  of  its  contents;  but 
I  have  to  leave  you  to  judge  how  far  I  have  succeeded  in  maintaining 
the  hypothesis  he  attacks. 

I  will  now  briefly  refer  to  some  few  of  the  favorable  notices  and 
reviews  that  have  appeared  in  regard  to  the  theories  advanced  in  my 
former  address : 

TIIK   SOUTIIKKN    UKVIKW    (QrAUTliRIA'), 

edited  and  published  by  Mr.  A.  T.  Bledsoe,  Baltimore,  in  its  number 
issued  April,  1869,  contains  an  article  on   the  '^  Atmosphere  of  the 
Ocean,"  which,  after  discussing  the  circulation  of  the  atmosphere  and 
of  the  ocean,  says:  "  But  the  current  which  more  nearly  resembles  the 
Gulf  Stream  in  its  origin,  temperature  and  course,  is  the  Kuro-Siwo, 
described  by  Mr.  Bent.    This  is,  indeed,  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  north 
Pacific.    Like  the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  Atlantic,  it  must  have  been  long 
known  to  the  trading  vessels  before  it  came  under  the  observation  of 
scientific  men ;  and  America  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  among 
nations  to  generalize  the  facts  observed  in  relation  to  this  stream,  and 
give  them  to  the  world  in  scientific  form.     *     *     *     How  often  it  hap- 
pens that  the  greatest  discoveries  are  the  simplest;  so  simple,  indeed, 
that  everybody  wonders  that  no  one  had  thought  of  it  before.     It  has 
been  long  known,  ever  since  Dr.  Franklin  was  a  commissioner  of  the 
colonies  at  the  British  court,  in  anti-revolutionary  times,  that  the  Gulf 
Stream,  or  at  least  a  branch  of  it,  flowed  to  the  arctic  regions  by  the 
way  of  Spitzbergen;  thus  pointing  out  to  the  explorer  the  true  way  to 
the  Pole,  as  unerringly  as  the  wild  buftalo  of  the  West  points  out  to  the 
hunter,  by  its  beaten  paths,  the  easiest  and  best  routes  through  the 
Rocky  Mountains ;  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  all  the  polar  navigators  from 
Parry  to  Dr.  Kane  have  ignored  this  fact  and  sooght  passages  to  the 
Pole  in  vain,  far  to  the  westward  by  the  way  of  Davis'  Straits  and  Baf- 
fin's Bay.    Whilst  nature  has  been  beckoning  them,  pointing  out  the 
true  thermal  gateway  to  the  Pole,  they  have  cast  their  eyes  in  a  differ- 
ent direction,  and  wandered  about  in  cals  de  sac,  batfled  and  wearied, 
and  driven  back  by  impassable  barriers  of  ice  as  often  as  they  have 
made  the  attempt. 

"  Mr.  Bent  was  the  first  to  call  the  attention  of  the  scimitihc  world  to 
this  singular  and  fatal  mistake  of  the  early  explorers,  and  every  one 
wonders  why  no  one  had  thought  of  it  before." 

IN  Putnam's  magazine 

of  November,  1869,  in  an  article  reviewing  the  address,  Professor  T.  B. 
Maury,  with  whom  I  have  only  become  acquainted  personally  within 
the  past  year,  and  who  has  given  a  graceful  beauty  to  the  subject  that  I 


■■■■i 


31 


had  never  conceived  of  before,  says:  "Enterprises  have  been  tried 
ni\der  the  most  propitious  auspices ;  most  of  them  have  been  guided  by 
the  most  expert  seamen  of  the  world,  upheld  by  the  most  lavish  outlays 
of  moral  sympathy  and  material  wealth,  and  animated  by  a  zeal  which 
the  etornui  ices  of  the  North  could  not  chill.  In  vain  liave  they  endea- 
vored every  route  save  the  one  now  suggested.  Their  failures  and  dis- 
asters have  been  most  signal.  The  paltry  successes  they  have  reaped— 
paltry  when  compared  with  the  means  employed— have  been  reaped 
only  by  crossing  inunense  plateaus  and  mountains  of  ice  with  infinitely 
more  pains  and  perils  than  attended  Hannibal's  or  Napoleon's  passage 
of  the  Alps.  And  this  fact  alone,  however  it  may  shed  lustre  and  glory 
on  the  heroic  explorers,  reflects  none  or  but  little  light  on  the  Arctic 
problem— unless,  like  the  tloating  fragments  of  some  noble  ship  that 
has  foundered  and  gone  down  to  toll  a  tale  of  warning,  and  to  reveal 
the  rocks  on  which  the  fairest  hopes  lie  stranded.  And  yet,  in  the  very 
gropings  of.  these  gallant  spirits— such  as  Kellett  and  Kotzebue,  and 
Parry  and  Kane— it  appears  that  just  so  far  as  accidentally  they  were 
led  to  move  towards  these  "  thermometric  gateways  to  the  Pole  "  now 
pointed  out,  light  has  beamed  upon  their  pathway.  The  moment  they 
were  called  away  from  these  routes  and  looked  westwardly,  that  light 
grew  dimmer  till  it  was  quenched,  and  some  of  them  steering  away 
from  waters  almost  tepid  and  halcyon,  furnishing  a  furrow  for  their 
keels,  quickly  plunged  into  cold  and  became  entaTigled  in  icy  desola- 
tion." *  *  *  <'  If  it  is  true,  as  this  thermometric  theory  claims,  that 
the  Gulf  Stream  reaches  the  Pole  with  heat  enough  to  melt  its  ice,  it 
ought  to  follow,  conversely,  that  the  cold  counter  under-current  from 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  that  offsets  the  Gulf  Stream,  will,  in  its  long  flow  to 
the  south,  lose  but  little  of  its  Arctic  cold  and  reach  the  tropics  with 
frigeriflc  power.  Such,  at  least,  would  be  the  deuiaiid  of  a  remorseless 
logic.  Anxiously  we  turn  to  ask,  'Is  this  demand  satisfied?  Do  the 
nicest  mean  observations  attest  the  fact  indubitably  ? '  Here  is  a  gigan- 
tic balance,  hung  by  the  Creator  himself,  one  scale  at  the  pole,  the  other 
at  the  tropic.  The  flrst  is,  as  yet,  invisible;  the  other  we  can  read. 
We  know  they  must  be  in  equilibrio.  Let  us  go  to  the  tropic,  and  with 
the  deep  sea  thermometer  draer  k\j  an  answer  from  this  unbiased  and 
incorruptible  witness. 

"  We  have  the  most  exact  observations,  taken  with  a  variety  of 
exquisitely-constructed  instruments,  and  continued,  at  vast  expense  of 
money  and  care,  through  many  years.  They  all  tell  the  same  story,  so 
that  science  may  be  said  to  have  sat  at  the  feet  of  this  great  aqueous 
traveler  to  the  Pole  and  heard  him  recount  its  mysteries. 

"  rROFKSSOR   BACHK, 

of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  records  that '  at  the  very  bottom  of 
the  Gulf  Stream,  when  its  waters  at  the  surface  were  80°  in  tempera. 


82 


luro,  the  iiiHtriiineiits  of  tho  Coast  Survey  reooided  a  temperature  a» 
lout  as  '.h')°  Fahrenheit!'  'The  cusliioii  of  water  under  this  iiniHt  have 
been  even  colder,  and  thin  cushion  is  the  counter  current  wlioso  testi- 
mony we  are  seekinff.  *  *  •  The  Arctic  current  that  oirsets  the 
Gulf  Stream  and  flows  south,  reacliing  tlie  Tropic  of  Cancer  atlJ/J"  tem- 
perature, could  not  have  left  the  Pole  colder  than  2H°,  for  then  it  would 
have  been  frozen  up.  In  its  transit  to  the  south  it  only  gains  six  or 
seven  degH-cs  in  its  temperature.' 

"  Ik  it,  tluii,  a  tiling  impossible,  tiiat  the  (Julf  Stream,  this  mighty 
*  river  of  the  ocean,'  may  reach  the  polar  region  at  Jit)"?  Remember,  it 
begins  its  race  off  Florida,  at  8()°.  It  might  then  lose  flfty  degrees  of  its 
heat,  (against  the  gain  ot  six  or  seven  degrees  of  its  counter-current,) 
flow  on  to  the  Pole,  melt  its  ices,  and  yet  have  eight  degrees  of  heat  to 
spare  before  it  would  fall  to  twenty-eight  degrees,  the  ice  point. 

"This  theory  before  us  claims  that  the  (Julf  Stream,  whose  dimen- 
sions we  know,  pours  a  part  of  its  volume  into  the  space  around  the 
Pole.  If  so,  out  of  the  same  space  there  must  flow  an  e(|ual  volume 
towards  the  equator.  Is  this  found  to  be  the  fact?  It  is  true,  marine 
researches  have  not  funushcd  information  sufficient  to  speak  here 
with  mathematical  precision.  Hut,  we  have  facts  and  light  abundant 
to  severely  scrutinize  the  premises,  and  to  detect  any  error  in  principle 
upon  which  Captain  Bent's  conclusion  rests. 

"There  certainly  issues,  from  the  space  around  the  Pole,  a  ceaseless 
and  mighty  flow  of  waters  to  the  tropics.  In  its  course,  icebergs  of 
huge  proportions  are  carried  oil"  from  the  mainland.  So  vast  are  these 
ice  masses,  and  often  so  numerous,  in  floating  clusters,  as  to  defy  com- 
putation. Captain  Beechy  saw  a  small  one  tail  from  a  glacier  at 
Spitzbergen  over  four  hundred  thousand  tons  in  weight.  The  Great 
Western,  in  1841,  in  her  trans-Atlantic  trip  met  three  hundred  icebergs. 
The  single  drift  of  ice  which  bore  on  its  Atlcan  shoulders  the  English 
ship  *  l{esolute,'  abandoned  by  Captain  Kcllett,  and  cast  it  twelve 
hundred  miles  to  the  south,  was  computed  to  be,  at  least,  three  hundred 
thousand  square  miles  in  area,  and  seven  feet  in  thickness.  'Such  a 
field  of  ice  would  weigh  18,000, 000 ,0U0  tons.'  We  say  that  this  was  a 
single  drift  through  Davis  Straits,  only  one  of  the  avenues  of  this  cur- 
rent from  the  Pole,  and  only  a  fractional  part  of  the  drift  in  the  year. 
"What  a  mighty  flow  of  water  from  the  south  must  that  be,  which, 
wedging  itself  into  this  space  around  the  Pole,  ejects  such  masses  out 
of  this  space  as  quietly  and  easily  as  the  steam-driven  piston  of  the 
engine  throws  out  its^  jet  d'eau!  AVe  dwell  upon  the  might  and  mag- 
nitude of  this  ice-bearing  river  from  the  Pole,  because  in  gauging  these 
we  gauge  the  energy  of  the  reciprocal  heat-bearing  <  river '  from  tho 
tropics,  i.  e..  the  (Julf  Stream." 

•  There  is  much  more  of  such  kindreil  facts  as  these  in  the  papers  of 
Professor  Maury  that  I  would  like  to  give  you,  but  am  at  a  loss  to  select 


88 

judiciously  from  tliein,  even  if  time  sutl'ered  mc  to  do  so.     In  conclud- 
ing, ho  says: 

"  TliiH  profound  and  beautiful  hypothesis  may  boast  no  Hanction  of 
hijjfh  authority,  nor  count  as  its  advocates  any  arctic  explorer.  For  a 
while  it  may  have  to  rest  its  claims  on  deductions  of  science,  and  bo 
ushered  into  notice  on  the  quiet  authority  of  mathematical  calculations. 
Was  it  not  so  with  the  theory  ol  Columbus?  What  of  this?  '  Gallo, 
we  know,  with  his  powerful  telescope,  at  Berlin,  and  aided  by  a  host  of 
astronomers  elsewhere,  was  defeated  in  his  search  for  a  planet,  when, 
with  no  other  instrument  but  his  pencil,  it  was  found  and  triumphantly 
pointed  out  by  the  French  mathematician.'  " 

I.ATK    KXl'I.OKATION^S. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  reports  of  the  explorations 
t)  -It  have  come  to  the  public  since  the  delivery  of  my  former  address, 
in  the  winter  of  181)8. 

These  explorations  having  l)een  made  principally  by  northern  Euro- 
peans, their  narratives,  as  originally  published,  are  generally  in*  the 
Oerman  language;  though  the  Hydrographic  office  of  the  United  States 
Navy  Department  has  furnished  us  with  voluminous  translations  from 
Dr.  Petermann's  Geographical  Journal,  which  no  doubt  contains  the 
most  important  information  in  regard  to  their  operations.  To  give  you 
a  general  view  of  all  the>e  details  would  require  too  much  time.  I  will 
therefore  avail  myself  of  a  couple  of  circular  letters,  sent  me  by  Dr. 
Petermann,  upon  the  subject,  which  I  will  give  pretty  much  in  full. 


THE   «iKRMAN    KXl'KDITION. 

The  first  of  these  letters  is  dated  Gotha,  November  5th,  1870,  and 
says:  "Since  Ilerr  von  Heugelin  has  Just  returned  from  east  Spitz- 
bergen,  and  the  latest  news  from  the  different  Kussian  and  Norwegian 
expeditions  have  been  received,  we  are  enabled  to  sum  up  the  whole 
results  of  all  the  expeditions  sent  toward  the  North  Pole  during  this 
year.  In  order  to  briefly  recapitulate  the  results  Of  the  German  expe- 
dition to  east  Greenland,!  beg  to  remark  that  the  steamer  Germania 
proceeded  on  that  coast  as  far  as  75°  1^  north,  and  in  sledges  to  77° 
7^  north;  that  they  discovered  a  'fiord,'  which  extends  far  into  the 
interior  of  Greenland ;  and  also  Arctic  'Mont  Blancs' ;  and  further,  that 
this  coast  can  be  easily  approached.  Henry  Hudson  first  discovered 
this  in  .luue,  1607;  and  since  then  it  has  been  visited  by  different  ves- 
sels, more  particularly  about  the  years  1820-30;  by  Scorsely,  Claveriug 
and  Sabine.  Herr  von  Heugelin  and  Earl  von  Zeil  remained  from  July 
15th  till  September  loth,  on  and  near  east  Spilzbergen,  which  they 
explored  and  mapped  from  77°  north  to  79°  north— mostly  in  boats. 
They  also  discovered  a  large  body  of  land  east  of  Spitzbergen. 


84 


It  Is  wroii)(,  liowfiver,  to  identity  thene  IhikIh  lying  cuhI  ot  8|)iJ/borj(cn 
with  the  fabled  "  (Jilllsland."  Captain  (fillls  discovered,  in  1707,  land 
in  W  north.  Tlie  Swedish  expedition  of  the  year  lH(i4  saw  from  the 
inonntainH  uf  Spitzbergon,  land  in  an  easterly  dircution,  distant  eighty 
nautical  miles,  and  located  it  as  a  cape,  on  the  map,  uiidci  tlic  ])arallel 
of  7!)°  north;  bnt  whether  it  is  connected  with  the  continent  nnder  80^ 
north,  or  is  to  be  considered  identical  with  Gillisland,  has  not  been 
decided  up  to  this  time. 

"Now,  however,  I lerr  von  Ilcugclin  and  F^arl  Zeil  have  discovered 
land  reaching  from  78°  to  7!t°  north,  and  lying  tliirty-six  nautical  miles 
east  of  Spitzbergen,  having  many  sharp  pealts,  and  wliich,  if  it  docs 
not  connect  with  Gillisland,  would  at  least  rival  Spitzbergen,  and, 
under  the  circumstances,  is  the  most  important  discovery  made  within 
quite  a  number  of  years,  llcrr  von  Ilcugelin  has  brought  from  east 
Spitzbergen  fourteen  boxes  containing  geological,  zoological  and  botan- 
ical collections,  among  them  numerous  interesting  vegetable  petrifac- 
tions, viz.,  'Anas  Helleri';  besides  this,  he  has  cleared  out  of  his 
hunting  excursions  the  sum  of  $000;  so  that  the  whole  cost  of  the 
enterprise,  originally  estimated  at  $1,800,  amounts  to  only  $1,200.  This 
shows  that  Herr  von  Ileugelin  has  tirst  solved  the  question,  to  a  cer- 
tain degree,  for  the  solution  of  which  I  and  my  friends  have  been 
working  for  the  last  live  years,  or  since  the  geological  congre^ts  in  1805. 


THE   RUSSIAN    KXl'KUmoN, 

under  Prince  Alexis  Alexandrovitch,  made  in  the  corvette  Warjag,  and 
accoujpanied,  amongst  others,  by  the  distinguished  academist.  Von 
Middendorf,  has,  this  summer,  made  interesting  scientific  explorations 
in  the  Polar  Sea  lying  between  Nova  Zcmbla  and  Iceland,  and  has  found 
tliat  the  Gulf  Stream  uj)  to  Nova  Zembla  has  the  very  high  temperature 
of  10  lleaumer  (or  64i  Fahrenheit).  Herr  von  Middendorf,  the  author 
of  the  most  extensive  works  on  the  polar  regions  that  have  ever  been 
published,  writes  me,  especially,  about  this  expedition,  and  referring  to 
an  article  publislied  by  me  in  June,  as  regards  the  Gulf  Stream,  and 
my  views  as  to  the  thermometric  knowledge  of  the  polar  region,  says: 

"  On  my  return  home  I  found  on  my  table  your  memoir  on  the  Gulf 
Stream.  You  have  treated  the  subject  most  clearly,  and  carried  the 
Gulf  Stream  eastward  beyond  the  Nortli  Cape  to  Taimyr's  region,  and 
even  into  the  New  Siberian  Polynia. 

''  '  West  of  the  North  Cape,  your  array  of  figures  is  irresistible;  but 
east  of  it  your  conclusions  are  very  bold.  With  the  exception  of 
Bessehl's  41°,  you  had  no  direct  proofs.  I  I'ejoice  that  I  can  not  only 
confirm  your  suppositions,  bnt  even  go  beyond  them.  You  have  been 
daring;  nature  is  more  so.  I  have  been  able  to-day  to  demonstrate 
before  the  Eussian  Imperial  Academy  that  the  corvette  Warjag  has 


86 

l)rovo(l  tho  oxteiiMioii  of  tho  Gull'  Stroaui  to  the  west  coast  of  Nova 
Zombia,  and  that  wo  fliul  it  on  tho  meridian  of  Kanin  Nosh  (43J°  cast) 
still  of  a  width  oiiual  to  two  dox'^'os  of  latitude,  and  of  toinperaturo  of 
54°,  cooliuK  down  at  depths  of  thirty  and  llfty  fathoms,  oidy  four  to  six 
•lojrrcoH.' ''  * 

TlIK    KARA    SKA 

was  explored  by  a  small  sailing  vessel,  and  found  free  of  ice.  Nova 
Zombla  was  also  found  to  extend  farther  north  than  usually  represented 
on  maps,  reachinj^  latitude  77°  8^  north.  Ca))tain  Johanneson  found 
Norwegian  glass  balls  at  (he  Northern  extremity  of  Nova  Zembla,  and, 
as  Dr.  Petermann  says,  *'  by  this  fact  alone,  the  existence  of  the  Gulf 
Stream  is  for  tho  llrst  time  shown  to  reach  even  theso  remote  shores,  as 
they  have  not  been  visited  by  a  civilized  seamnn  since  lo'Jl,  by  a  Dutch- 
man named  llarentz.'"  "  By  these  reports,  it  is  shown  that  our  knowl- 
edge of  tho  polar  regions  has  boon  much  forwarded  during  the  past 
year,  and  extensive  coast  lines  on  east  Greenland,  east  Spitzbergon, 
east  and  north  Nova  Zombla,  have  been  proven  accessible;  as,  also,  a 
wide  range  of  the  high  sea  has  been  found  navigable,  which  had  here- 
tofore been  considered  inaccessible  on  account  of  being  filled  with  ice." 

UK.    I'KTKKMANN's    MAI* 

of  the  extension  of  the  Gult  Stream  represents  the  northern  edge  of 
that  stream  in  summer  as  passing  to  tho  west  and  north  of  Iceland; 
thence  east  along  the  parallel  of  t;8°  to  about  3°  west  longitude,  whence 
it  curves  sharply  northward  to  7.'>°  north,  and  then  a  little  oastwardly  to 
latitude  81°  40^,  in  longitude  3°  east,  where  it  is  blocked  by  ice.  The 
remainder  interdigitates  with  the  polar  current,  running  down  on  the 
east  side  of  Spitzbergon,  and  with  its  north  edge  crosses  tho  parallel  of 
7r>°,  in  longitude  24°  east,  and  which  terminates  on  tho  meridian  of  30" 
east  in  hmgitude  77°  north,  where  this  branch  remains  unfinished  for 
the  want,  I  suppose,  of  observations.  The  eastern  branch  ho  makes 
extend  from  its  separation  from  this  last  named  one,  in  latitude  75°  lO', 
longitude  37°  east,  oastwardly  to  Nova  Zembla,  in  latitude  75°,  envelop- 
ing all  the  west  side  of  that  island  to  the  southward  of  that  point,  the 
northwest  coast  of  llussia,  the  White  Sea,  and  Lapland.  In  other 
words,  it  has  no  unity  of  flow;  but  I  expect  that  this  outline  is  made 
from  surface  temperatures,  and  represents  superficial  drifts  of  warm 
water  from  the  main  stream,  which  latter  most  likely  flows  in  uniform 
volume  in  a  given  path  northward,  between  Spitzbergon  and  Nova 
Zembla,  somewhat  as  I  have  here  represented  it. 

i'etermann's  second  expedition. 
I  sent  my  pamphlet  to  Dr.  Petermann  in  the  spring  of  1869.    In  the 
following  June  he  started  his  second  North  Pole  expedition,  consisting 


*  Tlie  two  foregoing  paragraphs  are  taken  from  the  Hydrographic  Office  trans- 
lation. 


8H 


of  tho  "  Uonnania,''  sicainor,  and  nailing  voskpI  "  Hansa.'"  \l\n  instruc- 
tions w(Mr,  I  hciiovi!,  pretty  mucii  tlio  samci  on  tliiw  cxirasion  as  tliosc 
given  to  (Captain  Koideway  tlie  piovions  year,  wliicli  were,  to  make 
(Jreonland  (ln>  objcc^tivo  point  and  to  endeavor  to  pass  round  lliaL  island 
l)y  finding  a  clianuel  open  along  its  east  coast,  and  tlu'nct*  lo  IJehring's 
Straits,  ins  idea  being  that  (irocnland  trends  oH'  to  the  northwest, 
iiKiliving  southwardly  and  teruiinating  near  lliese  straits.  The  (ier- 
inania  was  IVozt^n  in  in  latitude  7o°  after  reaching  tin!  coast,  where  she 
remained  the  winter,  and  wiis  unsuccesslul  the  following  season  also. 
The  llansa  was  beset  by  ice  lu'ar  the  (ireenlaiul  coast  in  latitude  T;]"', 
cruslied  and  suid<.  Jhu-  crew  saved  enough  from  tiieir  vessel,  however, 
to  i)roleet  and  su!)sist  tiieni  on  th(>  ice  until,  after  terrible  sidVerings, 
they  left  it  in  Afay,  1870,  in  latitude  (11°  12^,  in  their  boats,  having  been 
carried  two  hundred  miles  to  the  southwest  along  the  coast  of  (Jreen- 
land  during  their  sojourn  upon  the  ice. 

Dr.  reteruiann  is  still  skeptical  as  to  the  existence  of  an  open  sea 
around  the  I'ole  as  I  have  it  here  represented,  and  all  hough  he  claims, 
I  believe,  the  credit  ol  Iniving  tor  some  years  past  said  that  the  best 
route  lo  the  I'oh^  "  is  right  up  bet  ween  y[)itzbergen  and  Noya  Zend^la," 
yet  he  has  also  sidd  that  the  best  way  to  peiuitrate  the  ice-belt  is  to  go 
<tyainst  the  current  and  not  with  it:  and,  in  accordance  with  that  belief, 
he  sent  both  of  his  expeditions  of  l<S()8--'()y-7U  to  the  east  of  (rrceidand, 
instead  of  to  the  east  of  Spitzbergen,  to  look  for  a  route,  and  has  writ- 
ten to  rrolessor  ;N[aury,  under  date  of  Nov.  29,  1S7I,  that  "  I  am  now, 
night  and  day,  at  work  to  get  up  a  <ierman  or  Aualrian  expedition  for 
next  year,  to  steam  right  along  the  (iulf  Stream,  past  the  northernmost 
cape  of  Asia,  the  -New  Siberian  islands,  to  liehring's  StraiLs."  From 
this,  you  see,  he  thinks  that  the  Gulf  Stream  does  not  go  lo  the  Pole, 
but, passes  otl"  to  the  eastward,  along  the  coast  of  Asia. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  Dr.  retermann  will  reconsider  this 
plan  before  the  sailing  of  his  exi)edition,  and  for  two  reasons:  first, 
because  if  this  route  is  attempted,  his  vessels  will  run  directly  down 
into  the  ice-belt  again  and  find  it  impracticable;  and  the  second  is,  the 
shortest  distance  from  the  i)oint  reached  by  Payer  and  Weyprecbt  to 
Behring's  Straits,  is  by  following  the  arc  of  a  great  circle  which  runs 
northeast  until  near  the  pole  and  then  southeast  to  where  the  Kuro- 
Siwo  probably  pierces  the  ice-Lclt  on  the  meridian  of  1()0°  west. 

SKJNAI,    ('(>IN<'II)KN('K. 


IN' 


You  will  perceive  that  none  of  these  expeditions  have  attempted  to 
follow  the  northeast  branch  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  as  here  suggested  on 
my  map,  though  they  have  been  hovering  all  round  it;  but  a  small  sail- 
ing vessel,  hired  by  Lieutenant  Julius  Payer,  of  the  Austrian  army,  and 
Lieutenant  Weyprecht,  of  the  (ierman  navy,  sailed  last  June  for  the 


a 


87 

piirpowe  of  roacliiii','-  mid  explorinj^f  Kiiij^  Karl's  Land,  discovered  by 
Von  Ilcugoliii,  to  (ho  eaat  of  Spitzbcrgen. 


>n"f 


TIIK    (iATIOWAY    KOUNI)    Ol'KN. 

They  did  not,  8uc(!ced  in  their  mission,  but,  returniu{<  to  Norway,  tele- 
graphed from  Tronisoe,  October  ;5d,  as  follows: 

**  In  September,  oi)en  sea,  followed  from  42°  to  G0°  east  longitude  from 
Gr(!enwi(5h  beyond  7H°  nortli  latitude.  Highest  latitude  reached  was 
79°  on  the  meridian  of  43°  east.  There  found  favorable  state  of  ice 
towards  the  noi-th — probable  connection  with  the  Tolynia  toward  the 
east — i)r()bably  the  most  favorable  route  to  the  North  Pole."  * 

Now  let  us  turn  to  these  maps  which  were  made  to  illustrate  my 
address  in  the  winter  of  ].S')8-'y,  cmd  have  twt  been  ehaiKjed  in  the 
sUyhtest  deyrec  .since,  and  the  largest  of  which  was  reduced  and  litho- 
graph copies  of  it  put  in  the  pamphlet  containing  that  address,  pub- 
lished in  the  spring  of  1MG9. 

I  have  diawn  the  jjarallels  of  79°  north  latitude  and  the  meridian  of 
43°  east  longitude  t)ii  both  maps,  and  the  intersection  of  these  lines  falls 
here  exactly  in  the  path  of  the  Gulf  Stream  as  1  represented  it  hypothe- 
tically  in  186H,  and  in  tiik  viouy  (jatewav  to  tiik  oi*en  Pol\h  Sea. 

1  therefore  again  reiterate  the  convictions  expressed  in  my  communi- 
cations to  the  President  of  the  Geograpliical  Society  of  New  York,  in 
1808,  and  which  are  the  same,  substantially,  that  I  expressed  to  Dr. 
Kane,  in  my  office,  in  the  winter  of  l8or)-'(;:  "  That  the  (iulf  Stream 
and  Kuro-Siioo  are  the  prime  and  only  cause  of  the  open  sea  about  the 
Pole,  with  its  temperature  so  much  above  that  due  to  the  latitude;  that 
the  only  practicable  avenues  by  which  ships  can  reach  that  sea,  and 
thence  to  the  Pole,  is  by  folio  iving  the  warm  waters  of  these  streams  into 
that  sea;  that  to  find  and  follow  these  streams,  the  water  thermometer  it 
the  only  guide,  and  that  for  this  reason  they  tnty  be  justly  termed 
"  Tiik  Tiiekmometkic  Gateways  to  the  Pole." 


*See  Appendix. 


APPENDIX 


Since  delivering  the  address  I  Iiave  received  IVoni  Captain  Wyinan, 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Hydrographic  Office  of  tlie  Navy  Depart- 
ment, a  translation  of  Lieutenants  Weyprecht  and  Payer's  preliminary 
report,  which  is  even  far  more  confirmatory  of  the""Thermometri'c 
Gateway  "  theory  than  this  telegram  from  Tromsoe  would  indicate.  I 
<jannot  give  it  in  full,  but  make  the  following  extracts,  viz: 

*  "  The  weather  in  Pinmark  during  the  preceding  seasons  augured 
the  very  worst  for  the  state  of  the  ice  in  the  high  north.     *     *     *° 

''On  the  21st  of  August  we  pushed,  on  the  meridian  28°  E.,  further 
into  the  ice,  reaching  south  of  Gillis  Land,  the  parallel  of  77°  17^  N 
The  ice  between  ihe  28°  and  the  ;3C°  of  longitude  proved  to  be  looser 
and  thinner  than,  perhaps,  in  any  other  part  of  the  arctic  re<^ion,  con- 
sisting of  small  fields  of  an  average  thickness  of  two  feet  (above  and 
below  the  water),  which  closed  up  to  long  strips  with  fresh  norther] v 
winds.  Flakes  were  nowhere  to  be  seen,  and  the  iiorizon  appeared  as 
a  straight,  unbroken  line:  one  could  believe  himself  to  be  on  a  fresh- 
water lake  instoud  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  A  strong  steamer  could  have 
taken  a  straight  course  through  the  ice,  particularly  between  the  merid- 
ians ot  28°  and  32°  E  ,  where  it  was  thinnest.     *     *     * 

"  We  reached,  on  the  29th,  77°  30^  N.,  on  the  meridian  42°  E.  without 
meeting  ice,  and  were  still  more  surprised  bv  its  entire  absence,  even 
beyond  the  parallel  of  latitude  78°  N.,  which  we  crossed  on  the  30th  on 
a  northeastern  course,  near  the  meridian  41°  ;;o'  E.  When  comin^r  up 
at  last,  m  the  night  of  that  day,  with  the  border,  it  trended  north 
instead  oj  easterly,  as  heretofore.  At  noon  of  the  .'ilst  we  were  in  78^' 
20  X.,  42°  E.,  and  at  «  p.  m.  i.w8°  41^  N.  within  the  ice,  which  now 
appeared  to  trend  northeaslerli/.  Toward  the  west,  it  lav  (juite  close, 
with  a  strong  glittering  and  some  icebergs  among  it;  toward  the  north,' 
however,  it  was  loose. 

_  "  At  uiidnight  of  the  1st  of  September  we  attained,  within  loose  drift 
ice,  our  highest  latitude,  by  the  log,  in  78°  48^  X.,  or,  by  an  indifferent 
observation  obtained  the  succeeding  noon,  in  78°  37^  3^^  N  on  the 
meridian  42°  30'  E.     *     *     *  '' 

"  The  temperature  of  the  water  in  77°  30'  N.  on  the  3rd  of  September, 
\yas  observed  to  be  37.(3°  F.,  and  in  7(i°  3(/  N.,  on  September  8th,  in 
Mght  ot  Cape  Nassau,  even  40.1°  F.     *     *     * 


40 

provi,fo::;r„t„  .^r/r;:,:-:;^^ "°?  ?"■  "=»■ » -■'  °f 

tmversed  bv  U8,  was  01,1,71,  Tunh"      »l><"-egion  (l,i„  fi-ee  of  ice, 
believe,!  ii  „  be  the  lal  c  •  a  ,f  h  1  '  "','  °"  °"'"'  ^""^  S""'    We 

dow„  o„  a  .„u,bea,.Xco::e'  „"?',';  TlrS  "ipf '  "'  ""''  ™" 
pieceofice  to  besepii  nn  «,„.  „^         u,       -^^-''^^   ^-    There  was  not  a 

«P_.o  ,he  co,l,  of  Nova  z°lr."''°    ?7  ""  """  '"'™"'"  -"•  ""■"-<'» 

"  The  fact  tliat  a  small  saiiiixr  vesspl  onnhi    ,.,-*i      ^ 

great  impediments,  ,o  almost  bey^ond  t      79t    ';::"""    --^'''tenng, 

uowhere  has  yet  been  reached  hv  T  vr  ^       ^*  latitude,  which 

mlL  by  e^^e//pm.r;L  "o  a  ki  S  TnT^'l.  ''  ""^^  «Pitzbergen, 

/or  a/^mp^.  J.e«cA  ^AePo'«     *    *    f "  ''  *'  '^^  most  favorable  basis 

Macrai:';eS/      a  X- 7ma^  2^''  ^"'  ^^>''''-*^^^^'  ^^P^'^^" 
hundred  miles  to  the  mt™]  inT  "^  ''''''''  '""  ^^^^^  ^hree 

ice;  thus  showing  that thp7hH  \  «P«"  «ea  without  encountering 

patLoftheGritream   a  Hwe.t'r"f '"'^P.''''^'^'  "'^  ^^^"^^'^ «"  ^^^e 
the  periphery  of  wh  J  a    ll  „",      '  "'  n"  '"'  °""^^  ^'^^'^«  ^ka- 

sea  a  larger  diameter  on  the  axes  of   h!  r     h.  "''^  ^'''^' '^  *^** 

than  I  had  supposed  it  to  have  ^"  *"*''*'"  '^"^  ^uro-Siwo 


l^i 


L 


impenetrating 

'e.    *    *    * 

Iso,  a  want  of 
3d  stem.  *  ♦  * 
18  free  of  ice, 
olar  Sea.  We 
t,  we  now  ran 
ere  was  not  a 
lei  of  latitude 

encountering- 
titude,  which 
Spitzbergen, 
ivorable  basts 

teviperatxire 
I  throughout 
able,  in  the 
ermometer." 
cht,  Captain 
about  three 
ncountering 
-belt  on  the 
OLAR  Sea — 
jnds  further 
jives  to  that 
Kuro-Siwo 


Inter-Oceanic  C 


ThermometricGai 


'Miudiy  1 11., St.  Louir. 


EXHIBITING  THE    ^^^..„Z^     '^"" -^. 

Inter-Oceanic  Circulation, as  suaaosFoTni  Ins  ropori  on  ihoKuRO-Siwoin  1855-6, 

ami  i(>  illiisli'alo  A<l<li<\ss<».s  upon  I  ho 
Thermometric  Gateways  it)ih.*PoLE"iiil868,inuIilWTHERMAL  Paths  to  iho  Pole  in  1872 


BY 


■  '  ^/>SJiluV^^  l*l«lWff;-^ 


The  /iVv/  Colon  no  unliaitis  Hur/it  Water. 
■■   lilur       ■■     '  /(rAtv/ditulet: 

••  .  b'lvwx  .siiowlht  ttiiniioH  0/  V  ///  rciUs. 


'^Uuihy  i;i.,St.  iMutF. 


